SasuSakuMonth2014
by HerMadnessMac
Summary: Drabble series! In celebration of SasuSakuMonth, a set of drabbles for every day of the month (centered around the day's prompt).
1. Day 1: The Smell of Fresh Paint

**Title: **Painting a Fresh Start

**Summary: **Maybe the paint job isn't the only thing that's fresh.

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Naruto. If I did, Sasuke wouldn't be such a bag of dicks right now.

**Prompt: **_The Smell of Fresh Paint_ from day one of the SasuSakuMonth Prompts.

**Rating: **K

**Words:** 3,410

**Warning(s): **Language

**Author's Note: **Ah! Sorry this is so rushed! I just had to get this up by today, but I hope you enjoy it! My first completed SasuSaku oneshot!

* * *

Light brown paint spattered on Sakura's petite nose with the final flick of her brush. After checking to make sure that none of the splatter had reached the hardwood floor, and finding it blissfully bare of the permanent liquid, Sakura slipped her brush back in its bucket and stepped back.

_Not half bad_, Sakura thought as she surveyed their work, hands on her hips. After a solid two days of work, Uchiha manor was beginning to look like a home.

Five years of disuse in a war torn country had not been kind to Sasuke's childhood home. When Sasuke finally got the ok to live on his own, away from his ANBU probation officers, the proud structure had been hanging on its last hinges-quite literally. While the support beams and structuring stood tall ("Superior Uchiha architecture," someone had sniffed), the walls, doors, and most of the embellishments had been in shambles. There was the mold and pest problem, _Thank Kami for Shino_, but there had also been sections blown away by Pein's, and other, attacks.

Of course, it hadn't even been a question if Team 7 would help Sasuke get the place in shape. The last Uchiha didn't even blink when Sakura, Naruto, Kakashi, and even Sai met him at the front gates where his probation officers dropped him off for the last time. Instead, with a deadpan expression, he had asked, "Inviting yourself over already?""

This resulted in the usual barrage of insults and promises from Naruto, inappropriate questions from Sai, exasperated sighs and comments from Kakashi, and threats ("If you don't all shut up, I'm going to beat you unconscious! Shannaro!) from Sakura.

In observing the discord that were his teammates, Sakura caught the barest hint of a smirk on his lips before Sasuke strode stoically past them. The comment he tossed at them over his shoulder, however, caused Sakura to erupt in a full grin, "Better make yourselves useful, then."

Now, several hundred Kage Bushins ("We'll get these walls fixed, believe it!"), two sketchy electricians ("We can figure this out, lightning is our element, after all"), one determined landscaper ("You really need to fix this yard, Traitor-kun. You're not, what is it? 'Keeping up with the Jones' '"), and one painter later, Uchiha manor was standing tall once again.

Although she refrained from skipping, Sakura couldn't contain the little hop in her step as she made her way to the kitchen. Waking up this morning, Sakura could tell the day was going to be hot even for July, and had the foresight to seal away a pitcher, lemonade powder, and glasses in her scroll.

After retrieving the items from the tiny scroll she wore as a charm bracelet, Sakura turned towards the sink with the pitcher. _Theoretically_, she thought, eyeing the old faucet, _the water should work again._

When another minute of staring the sink down yielded no more answers, Sakura shrugged, deciding to try it out, and turned the time-worn handle. At first, nothing happened. Then, a couple large thumps echoed from deep in the pipes followed by a gurgling noise. Since these noises were less than reassuring, Sakura's hand was already on the handle when dark water began to bubble from the faucet. Soon enough, the water ran clean and clear.

Satisfied with both the water's safety and the working faucet, Sakura set to stirring up a batch of lemonade with a small smile settled on her lips.

Sakura felt her boys approaching before she heard them, which was saying something. Her precise control of chakra made her a decent enough sensor, but tracking Naruto and Sasuke's chakra was like aiming for Hokage mountain with a rock-impossible to miss.

The Yondaime's son and Last Uchiha had always had large amounts of chakra, but after the war the strength had grown to extreme levels. Sai, while talented, was no where near their level and took a little bit more effort to pick out. However, while Naruto and Sasuke's chakra billowed out from them in thick waves, Sai's was tight and controlled-much like Sakura's own. Kakashi's signature was absent, but Sakura figured he had ditched to go see Anko in the hospital. He had been doing that a lot recently.

Overwhelming chakra and strength did not mean they were above bickering with each other, however. When Sakura began to hear individual words among the shouting, she determined they were probably just finishing up an argument.

"...your ass any day, teme!"

"Hn, you can try dobe."

"I don't think Ugly would take kindly to having to heal you two because you were being idiots," Sai interrupted, "Where is she anyway?"

"Kitchen," Sasuke responded immediately.

Sakura was shocked he knew where she was before she realized that she probably gave off a decent chakra signature as well. Nothing compared to them, of course, but enough to track her down by. Plus, she would bet all four members of Team 7 could track each other down by chakra signature alone.

"Really? Maybe she'll cook for us. Sakura-chan!" Sakura heard Naruto call from just outside the kitchen, "Where are you? I'm thirsty! You should make us a drink-and food-but mostly drinks!"

Sakura's eye twitched and she found herself stalking angrily to meet him with one hand forming a fist and one supporting the tray of drinks. Naruto's blue eyes lit up in excitement when he saw the drink tray, but quickly turned to horror when Sakura's angry expression and raised hand registered. He immediately covered his head to protect against any attack she launched, but was unprepared for the grip that secured the front of his collar. Although he stood two inches taller than her 5 foot 3 inches, she hoisted him easily into the air.

"Don't expect me to make drinks for you because I'm the girl!" she shouted while shaking him firmly. Naruto nodded frantically and gave nonsensical apologies.

"...I mean you're the best! And only the best can make the lemonade…."

Convinced her lesson had been taught, Sakura lowered her blonde teammate to the ground with a good-natured eye-roll. Naruto was a lovable idiot who never meant any harm-but sometimes needed "gentle" correcting. She was only mildly successful in hiding the evil smirk that resulted from the thought.

"Anyway," Sakura cut off Naruto's still-going-ramble by handing him a glass ("Yees. So thirsty!"). Once Naruto was happily gulping away, she handed drinks to the two remaining boys who pointedly looked at Naruto as they elected to receive their beverages with what they obviously thought was far more grace and class than Naruto had shown.

"As a matter of fact, I _did_ make lemonade because I thought it would be such a good reward for all of us on a hot day like this," Sakura set down the tray on the nearby counter and grabbed the last drink for herself. The small sip of cold liquid soothed every part of her mouth that it touched, and had an overall refreshing taste that Sakura savoured with closed eyes. She opened them to find Sasuke watching her, an unreadable expression on his face.

"Oh! By the way, your water works," she chirped before enjoying another drink.

Sasuke nodded his thanks before returning his attention elsewhere.

"AH!" Naruto exclaimed, thunking his empty glass back onto the tray. He rubbed his stomach happily with closed eyes for a couple of seconds before the bright orbs snapped open once again.

"Hey, Teme, Sakura-chan, remember when Kakashi-sensei got us lemonade while we were painting that old hag's house?"

"And the stuff was so sour our faces were stuck like that for, like, half an hour?" Sakura remembered, swirling her drink absent-mindedly.

"Lemonade can make your face freeze?" Sai asked, somewhat alarmed.

Naruto responded before Sakura could. While sometimes inappropriate, Sai really was trying his best to learn and adapt to social cues, and Sakura tried her best to accommodate him by answering his questions and explaining.

"NO! Sai, you robot," Naruto guffawed, doubling over in laughter. His laughter paused, and Naruto reemerged with a mischievous smirk, "This one time, though, teme's whole _body_ got frozen because be was too slow to avoid a jutsu."

Sasuke stiffened, and Sakura found herself stiffening as well, awaiting Sasuke's reaction at a direct dig to his pride. He had done extremely well up until now, but Sakura wasn't stupid enough to believe that everything would just snap back to how it used to be. They had all grown up, and the path there had been rougher than expected. There were bound to be some skeletons in everyone's closet, and not all would be cleared out so easily-especially Sasuke's.

"I was not _too slow_," Sasuke seethed, "I trusted you to perform a jutsu and you screwed it up."

"Whatever, you were still too slow to dodge it."

"Hn."

"So if Traitor-kun trusted an idiot, does that make him an idiot as well?"

A deep rush of air swooped down Sakura's lungs and settled there, refusing to be let out. She hadn't been expecting this from Sai, although really, she should have known better, and this was a whole can of worms she had hoped to open another day. It was common knowledge that Sasuke left because he believed bonds were a weakness. Even if he was home now, it was a little too much to hope that he had changed his mind.

Wanting to change the topic before she had to hear Sasuke's potentially emotionally-shattering answer, Sakura had just opened her mouth when he responded.

"...No."

There was a beat of silence-even Sai seemed to sense the gravity of the answer-and then Naruto and Sakura broke out in grins. Their eyes met for a split gleeful second, both ecstatic with the answer, before schooling their faces to mildly pleased and taking the focus off Sasuke.

"Well of course not!" Naruto responded, slapping Sasuke on the back to which he received a scathing glare from the teammate in question, "it would be dumb NOT to trust the future hokage! Believe it!"

"Unless you trusted him with being on time, picking out lunch, acting dignified, dressing professionally…" Sakura ticked Naruto's faults on her free hand.

"Aw, Sakura-chan, don't be mean!"

"You always pick ramen!" Sakura argued back, fake anger lacing her voice. It would take the decimation of Konoha to ruin her mood at the moment, but bickering with Naruto was so natural, "and you almost cost us a mission once with your ridiculously loud mouth!"

"I remember that mission, Ugly, and I think the fact that you smashed Dickless into the ground for being inappropriate drew more attention than his inappropriate comment."

"Hey! So not true!" Sakura countered. She then caught sight of Sasuke's raised eyebrow, and a light blush rose to her cheeks as she amended her statement, "Well, maybe."

They stood like that reminiscing, telling (slightly exaggerated) stories of their genin missions to Sai, and teasing each other for another hour. Lemonade glasses had been filled and emptied until both the glasses and the pitchers stood empty-and still the conversation flowed. While Sakura took part in most of the conversations, she relished the time she wasn't speaking.

It was then that she was able to discreetly watch her recently returned teammate.

Of course, the raven-haired nin only spoke when he was either correcting Naruto or insulting him, but it was still something. He even explained the importance of the bell test to Sai, but Sakura suspected that was only because it offered a perfect opportunity to take a dig at his best friend. Regardless, Sasuke had never seemed too disinterested-or even plain walked away as she feared he would-and a small smirk seemed to be a permanent feature on his face.

This was what she wanted more than anything: Sasuke to be happy. Whether he had agreed or not, Sakura had always known he belonged at home, with them. Now, seeing him struggle to hide a grin when Naruto spluttered at an insult from Sai, or blush at the frankness of one of his questions, Sakura felt complete. Like a piece of the puzzle that had been just out of reach was finally in place.

"Hey, Sakura-chan, are you even listening? What'cha grinning like that for? It's scary."

"I believe she is either on the verge of becoming a homicidal maniac, or she is fawning over Traitor-kun. Which do you think it is, Dickless?"

To his credit, Naruto did not immediately agree with Sai. Instead, he choked, his gaze pinging from Sai, to Sakura, to Sasuke, and back to Sai again all the while sputtering incoherently. Sakura felt the heat rush to her face, and could not decide how to react. Her hand was itching to smack Sai and deny the claim, but a large part of her was so embarrassed by the truth she wanted to just run away and not even try to deny it.

"Wouldn't be the first time." Sasuke inserted, breaking the silence.

Astounded, both Naruto and Sai turned to stare at Sasuke. In typical Sasuke fashion, he seemed completely unperturbed by the whole situation, leaning casually against the kitchen's entry. He didn't seem uncomfortable with the idea that Sakura was still in love with him, but neither did he seem repulsed. As much as Sakura was pleased Sasuke wasn't making a big deal out of the situation, she wanted him to do something-anything-to give a hint of how he felt.

_Goddammit, what does a woman have to do to get a little insight? _she cursed, draining the last of her cup in a sullen gulp. Sake would be better.

"Ah," Sai said, nodding with sage-like understanding, "You are referring to when Ugly followed you everywhere as a genin. This is fitting, because we were just talking about when you were young, and this is also a joke to relieve the obvious sexual tension that has formed between you three."

A light bulb went off in the recesses of her mind at Sai's words. Maybe she could...up the sexual tension? Sasuke had never reacted to any of the sexually forward women that Sakura had seen, so if she could get something out of him...then maybe…?

Drawing up her courage, Sakura ignored Naruto's outbursts ("There is no sexual tension!" "I only have eyes for Hinata-chan!") and squared off against Sasuke. The raven-haired nin raised one elegant eyebrow at her posture, but his expression wasn't foreboding. It was more of a challenge, a dare to continue on.

It gave her the final boost of confidence she needed to pull off this trick.

"Well, who could blame me?" Sakura asked, sassily cocking her hip and flicking her eyes over his mostly exposed torso, "Sasuke-kun has grown up and filled out since I last saw him. He was pretty much a runt when he left."

Blindsided was a pretty accurate description of the three boys' faces. Naruto's jaw hung open, and Sai was blinking rapidly. The barest hints of a blush were beginning to rise to Sasuke's cheeks, when, using her last vestige of courage, Sakura patted his cheek condescendingly and disappeared into the kitchen with the empty glasses.

Her back was safely turned, hiding her face, when Naruto broke into giant whoops of laughter.

"Oh, Teme, you just got owned!"

Sakura didn't hear Sasuke respond, but she could imagine him rolling his eyes and turning away from Naruto, his jaw taut-most likely with frustration. Sakura's heart continued to beat out a euphoric pace and she rinsed all the glasses and resealed them.

She got him to blush!

"Okay guys, time to leave," Sakura said turning to face her team once again. They were very obviously enjoying torturing the Uchiha for his red cheeks, and Sakura put on her best "mother" face: pursed lips and disapproving furrowed brows, "I think we've infringed on Sasuke's hospitality long enough. Let's go."

"Aw, but Sakura-chan, we haven't seen Sasuke in forever!" Naruto whined plaintively, rocking back on his heels and extending his arms to demonstrate how long forever was, "He deserves to be bothered for _at least_ another hour."

"If you are looking to extract payment for the time that Sasuke abandoned you I would suggest at least three more years of forced company," Sai interjected, dead-pan always. Then he turned to face Naruto with something close to a quizzical expression on his face, "Does that mean you'll be bringing Sasuke on your date with the Hyuga tonight?"

Naruto looked at the pasty boy in front of him. His brow was furrowed in thought, mouth open as if he had forgotten what he was about to say, and his finger froze, pointed in the air at Sai. He remained like this for a couple of beats before throwing his hands up in the air, flailing them about, grabbing his head, and finally running straight out the door all the while screaming, "I FORGOT ABOUT MY DATE WITH HINATA-CHAN!"

The remaining trio stared after their rambunctious teammate, observing the way he left Sasuke's new front door flapping in the wind. It was nearly night now, and the dark clouds in the distance showed a storm was about to blow in. It was always like this in the summer months of Konoha: the day would be unbearably hot and the night would bring thunderous clouds.

"Hn," Sai remarked, sounding so like a certain Uchiha both Sakura and Sasuke jumped, "Now that Dickless is gone, I should go too. I don't want my scrolls to get wet, so I need to get home before the rain begins."

Without another word, the ex-root member walked out, leaving Sakura and Sasuke behind. The atmosphere was suddenly a lot tenser than it was not even ten minutes ago and obviously neither knew what to say. Sure, they had just talked for an hour, but then Naruto had been their mediator-Sakura didn't think they had initiated conversation or directed a comment at the other once.

Of course, Sakura was the first one to break.

"I think I should be heading home, too. I've got morning shift at the hospital, and I still have all those scrolls Tsunade assigned me to read…," she trailed off, backing towards the door while the rubbing her head anxiously, "Besides, can't have you getting annoyed by my presence already!"

Sasuke nodded and leaned more fully on the wall. His mind was obviously elsewhere, as his gaze was far-off. Hopefully, he was only settling in to having his on house and not dwelling on any past demons.

Sakura was about to step over the threshold when she heard him speak.

"Did you say something, Sasuke-kun?" she asked, head cocked inquisitively. After seeing him shake his head "no" she shrugged, "Guess I'm hearing things. G'nite Sasuke-kun."

"I said, 'You're not that annoying'," Sasuke repeated, barely loud enough for Sakura to hear him from the patio.

Sakura held onto the doorframe with one hand and leaned backwards to look into the house. She had been ready to set off at a run to her house—the small drops of rain that had begun to fall signaled the rest was soon to follow—and only a quick snag of the door had kept her in place when she heard Sasuke speak again.

Now, Sasuke was determinedly looking elsewhere, and if he wasn't concealed by a shadow Sakura would have sworn she saw a blush on his cheeks. Unsure of what to say Sakura let go of the doorframe and centered herself outside of it instead. Since Sasuke still wasn't looking at her, she crossed her arms and looked around the newly finished house instead. Obviously, this was a delicate moment, and though her inner-self wanted to run around screaming in success, Sakura knew she had to choose her words carefully.

"You know, Sasuke-kun" Sakura began, drawing in a deep breath and relishing the scents that accompanied it: newly cut wood, upturned gravel, fresh paint, "Maybe Uchiha manor isn't the only thing getting a fresh start."

_Maybe we can have a fresh start, too._

There was no immediate response from Sasuke. From her place near the doorway, Sakura could see the way he was taking controlled breaths as he continued to look off into the distance-where, if she was not mistaken, their old team picture was placed. Finally, he turned his gaze to her, obsidian eyes boring intently into her emerald ones.

"Maybe not."

* * *

**This is a piece originally posted on my Tumblr for SasuSakuMonth. I've decided to upload all of my oneshots for this year here. There are a couple prompts I haven't written yet, so I'll only upload prompts up to my first incomplete prompt, even if I have ones written after it. Hope you enjoy, and please leave comments! Participating in this month was really mean to get me out of my writer's block and (hopefully) keep everyone in character better.**


	2. Day 2: Late

**Title: **Worth Being Late

**Summary: **Sakura wonders when the definition of late changed in her mind.

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Naruto. If I did, Sasuke wouldn't be such a bag of dicks right now.

**Prompt: **_Late_ from day two of the SasuSakuMonth Prompts.

**Rating: **K+

**Words:** 2,207

**Warning(s): **Near character death. Mildly descriptive.

* * *

Late. Sakura used to think she knew the meaning of the word. Late was when you did not show up at the time specified by the group at the specified location. Late was when class started at eight am sharp and someone had the nerve to walk in at eight o' one (that was never Sakura). In fact, showing up _just on time_ seemed a little late.

Then, Sakura and the rest of Team Seven met Kakashi Hatake.

It had been a bright, sunny day when Sakura raced to the training field that day making sure to arrive _15 minutes early_. Showing up just on time would make it seem like she didn't care; her sensei couldn't get that impression of her. Obviously, he was just late the day before to try and weed them out. Plus, he had told them specifically not to be late!

Little did she know that it would be hours later before her sensei finally arrived. After the survival training, she had excused his behavior as a reason to make sure they were more hungry than usual, but it kept happening! Training, ramen, missions-he was always late!

Despite the evidence that Kakashi-sensei would never show up until at _least_ an hour after the start time, Sakura always made sure to arrive on time, right up to the Chunin Exam. Of course, after _that_ she didn't spend much time training with Kakashi-sensei, and her punctuality served her well under Tsunade's tutelage ("Time lost is lives lost, Sakura").

Then Naruto arrived, and the cycle started all over again. Kakashi-sensei set a time to start training and made a ridiculous effort not to arrive at said specified time. Except, this time, Sakura wasn't a genin. This time, Sakura _had things to do._

As a disciple of the Hokage, the legendary Slug-Princess, poison expert, and medical master, Tsunade, the list of tasks she needed to accomplish was neverending. There was the reading, the reports ("Being a legendary medic is more than understanding the material, you have to _create_ the material"), the hospital shifts, the honest-to-Kami, ground-shattering-bone-breaking training with Tsunade, the missions, and Kami forbid she actually have a social life!

So, the next time she had training on Training Ground 3, she may have...not been on time. The next day, she was a little less on time, and a couple more minutes slipped by the day after that. There came the day that she started arriving to training on-time with Naruto, and finally, the day she strolled up just in-time to see Kakashi-sensei's tell-tale puff of smoke.

It had all been so contained, at first. The time she spent not being on time to training with the remnants of Team 7 was spent writing reports and putting in extra time at the hospital. Slowly, her tardiness spread into other areas of her life. Girls' nights, which had originally consisted of all the girls meeting at Ino's, eventually necessitated a group-search for the pink-haired woman ("I'll be damned if you make us late to dinner again, Forehead"). Eventually, the only thing anyone ever counted Sakura to be on time for were hospital shifts and training with Tsunade (the bruises earned a particular session for being late reinforced her desire to be on time).

Of course, reacting to a emergencies had never been a problem, so the war had been enough to smash her nasty habit for a while. Wars created plenty of emergencies: arteries to be closed, organs to reform, poison to remove, lives to save, enemies to kill. War waited for no one, and this was one entity Sakura never thought to test.

For some reason, her nasty habit stayed away a little while after the war as well. Maybe it was the rebuilding process: the "have to get those walls up, _now_" and "have to rebuild the town, _now_" and "have to train more medics, _now_" that prompted her, well, prompt-ness.

Others thought it was Sasuke.

Sakura was at loath to agree with anyone who shared the despised opinion ("Shut up, Pig"), but damn him a little part of her knew they were right. There was something about standing next to him that sped her heart-rate to double time and short-circuited her brain.

She knew (hated, detested, loathed, despised) that she loved him. Kunais, chidoris, and a decent portion of betrayal hadn't been enough to deter her. She knew (mourned, resented, lamented, anguished) Sasuke didn't love her back. Heartfelt confessions, constant loyalty, and failed assassinations hadn't been able to influence him.

But Kami be damned! Sakura Haruno wasn't twelve anymore, and she wasn't the weak little genin she used to be. Why did Sasuke have to have such an effect on her? The very thought of him sent adrenaline coursing through her veins, which made her constantly edgy (he was living in the village, now), which made her….on time.

Thus, instead of being something to be proud of, a good characteristic, punctuality began to take a on a sour taste in her mouth. It was a reminder. A reminder that no matter how hard she tried, how much she had changed, the thought of Sasuke would alway be enough to revert her back to her old fangirling self-on the inside at least.

So, one day when she strolled into Tsunade's office after completing a procedure ("Nothing serious, just a mild concussion") decked out in her lab coat and smelling of antiseptics, she relished the greeting she received more than she should.

"You're late." The gruff voice belonged to Sasuke, leaning against the wall on the opposite side of the room. Tsunade's raised eyebrow matched Sasuke's question, but none of his annoyance. Naruto was all smiles, sprawled across his seat and somehow, despite his reputation as an idiot, seeming to understand.

Sakura glanced at the clock, noting the minute hand that announced she was indeed, ten minutes past the agreed meeting time. A slow smile stretched across her face, and Sakura turned to meet Sasukes searching, obsidian eyes.

"So I am."

_x_

Sakura was late a lot more after that one mission meeting. However, instead of feeling apologetic, each time she arrived at a time after the specified start time, she chalked it up as a small victory. One moment she managed not to let Sasuke's presence. One more time she had managed to be herself.

Every time Sasuke was actually _at_ the event she was late to, Sakura gave herself double points.

_x_

Once, on her way to train with Tsunade (the woman never ran out of things to teach her) a bleeding Sasuke stopped her in her tracks.

She was strolling leisurely down empty path, enjoying the sun and the fresh air outside of the sterilized hospital, when she felt a surge of familiar chakra and saw a puff of black smoke-so like him. Sasuke was visible seconds afterwards, after the smoke had dissipated, but Sakura was already turning to wave, a warm smile on her face.

When Sasuke looked through her, trembled, and fell to his knees seconds later, clutching his chest, the smile was wiped of her face. She charged forward with a cry of surprise and horror, catching him before he could crumble completely and laying him down as gently as possible.

His eyes were closed, and sweat, blood, and grime plastered his raven strands across his face. Instead of his usually porcelain skin, Sasuke's tone was ashen and starkly contrasted the crimson blood painted against his every surface. The awkward way his forearm bent alerted her to a broken bone, and his rasping breaths most likely meant a broken rib had punctured one of his lungs.

Blood, blood, and more blood. Emerald eyes scanned the broken boy's prone form, expertly searching for the worst wound. What to fix first? _What to fix first?_

Finally, what was probably only seconds later, Sakura focused on the damage to his chest. She whipped a kunai out from her pouch and hurriedly, but carefully, sliced open his shirt. Threads of cloth stuck in the sticky mess of his blood, but Sakura didn't waste any time removing them, bacteria be damned (Time lost is lives lost). Freed from his shirt, Sakura took in the gruesome sight of his chest. The lower left portion of his chest concaved, and puncture wounds surrounded the area (a mace?).

Sakura sucked in a deep breath and clenched her teeth. This could be messy.

The first priority was pulling that rib out of his lung and sealing the puncture. Green chakra surrounded her hands as she set to work. Blood had leaked into his lungs, but that could be dealt with later as long as no new blood leaked in. With his lung sealed up and his air supply in no immediate danger, Sakura sent her chakra throughout his chest-taking in an inventory of the damage. She was relieved to find the rib had a clean break, and that no fragments lay hidden anywhere else, but less relieved to find the mace had punctured his stomach, liver, and heart as well. Granted, Sasuke's heart had only been nicked, but Sakura devoted her attention to that next.

Sweat cummulated on her forehead as she moved puncture to puncture. She cursed herself for not tying up her hair earlier, but she didn't dare spend the time to swipe it from her eyes. Eventually, the wound on his chest was healed entirely, and Sakura took a moment to notice that his breathing was decidedly less erratic. Feeling calmer now that they were out of the danger zone, Sakura moved to other areas. A couple gashes were too close to major arteries, and there was still the blood to remove from Sasuke's lungs.

As Sasuke's radius and ulna reconnected with a dull _thwak_, his eyes snapped open and he lurched into a sitting position, kunai in hand and eyes bleeding red.

"Easy, Sasuke," Sakura said softly, only just repressing the urge to push him back down. She didn't move back from her kneeling position beside him, but she didn't move forward either.

Red eyes focused on her as soon as she spoke, and the sharingan soon faded with the tenseness of his posture. As soon as the kunai was lowered, Sakura hand found his shoulder. Whether she intended to steady him or reassure herself that he was alive, she wasn't sure.

"Come on, we've got to get you to the hospital," she said, ushering him to his feet. The fact that he leaned into her for help instead of insisting on doing it himself was a testament to their growth as teammates. Somewhere during the year that had passed since his return, Sasuke had began to acknowledge her-both as an able kunoichi and a teammate.

The moment they were both on their feet, Sasuke swayed and clutched her shoulder harder than he had before. Sakura's eyes were immediately drawn to the uneven way in which he placed his weight, and determined that his right leg must have been injured as well. If he was anyone else, Sakura would have just swept them up into their arms (height difference be damned), but one look at Sasuke's glare, as if he knew what she was thinking, convinced her otherwise.

Instead, she wrapped herself closer under his right arm so that he could use her as a crutch, and nudged him forward. The scent of oak, smoke, and more than a little blood permeated her nose from their closeness, and she couldn't fight back the smile that rose to her lips, _He's alive!_

She began to notice that Sasuke's steps were increasing in speed, but the ease of his gait was not. The smile that had formed due to their proximity and his alive state was replaced with a frown as she forcefully slowed the pace, dragging back on Sasuke's left side with her grip as much as she dared.

"Slowly, Sasuke," she chastised, "We're not in any rush, and you're not in good shape."

As expected, all Sakura received was a snort from the stoic nin-most likely from the insinuation that he was too weak to move quickly. However, the pace slowed considerably. It wasn't until the pair had hobbled out of the woods that Sasuke broke their silence.

"You're going to be late to practice with Tsunade."

Sakura's eyes widened momentarily. _How did he know.._.before she realized the path they were taking. Sakura always took the same path on her way to training. A dry laugh escaped Sakura's throat in response, "Try missed entirely!"

She looked up in time to see Sasuke's jaw clench in irritation, and for a couple of minutes Sakura couldn't figure out why.

When she realized Sasuke most likely felt guilty for making her miss training, Sakura stopped in her tracks, making Sasuke stumble. Sakura ignored the glare she received and looked at him seriously in return.

"Don't worry about it. I don't mind, you know. There are some things worth being late for, or even missing."

After watching his expression to make sure he understood, Sakura nodded once and continued forward, bringing Sasuke along with her. They didn't speak the whole way to the hospital, but the silence seemed much more companionable than before.

* * *

**For some reason, this is the unedited version. Also, I have not finished the third day's prompt. SO! Gap until I do. Reviews are very much appreciated. Even if you hate everything. Let me know.**


	3. Day 3: Phobia

**Title:** Bloodstained Hands, Bloodstained Nightmares

**Summary:** Sakura suffers from a repeating nightmare, and it's up to Sasuke to save her.

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Naruto, but HEY, I might as well because look who's NOT being an asshat.

**Prompt:** _Phobia _from day three of the SasuSakuMonth Prompts.

**Rating:** T

**Words:** 3,151

**Warning(s):** Language.

**Author's Note:** Still working on these prompts. Gotta love me some embarrassed/protective Sasuke!

* * *

Sakura jolted from her bed frantically, gasping for breath like a fish out of water and shivering uncontrollably. Her room was dark, illuminated only by the faint glow of the moon and streetlight from her window as well as the blaring red numbers on her alarm clock.

Two thirty.

Sighing, Sakura sank back on her pillows and rubbed a hand over the clammy skin of her forehead. It had only been a nightmare. After her heart rate and breathing had settled, Sakura brought her hands in front of face for inspection.

They were small hands, she supposed, dainty—especially for someone in her line of work. Callouses lined the pads of all of her fingers—a testament to long hours throwing kunai and demolishing boulders. Harlequin green nail polish, which was only applied this morning, chipped at the tips revealing jagged, torn, and abused nails.

But no blood.

Hands clenched into fists and collided, nearly-gentle, with her head as Sakura scrunched her eyes closed. Teeth ground against each other, and the muscles in her jaw were taut with tension.

_There's no blood. They're alive. It was only a nightmare. Everyone's alive,_ she chanted breathing exaggeratedly deep breaths_, There's no blood_—she flopped onto her stomach, trying to find a more comfortable position—_We all survived. Only a nightmare. That's all._

Returning to sleep ending up being a fruitless effort. Despite her serene expression, Sakura's insides were churning with what felt like acid, and she'd had her fair experience with the substance, thank you. No matter how long she tried to convince herself that her hands were clean, they still felt sticky, warm, with blood.

Their blood.

"That's enough of that," Sakura growled to the empty space, swinging her legs angrily over the side of the bed. She blinked blearily at the red numbers on her alarm clock that seemed to roll their eyes at her. _It's only three-thirty, you sill woman, _they scolded_, go to bed._

"I know very well what time it is," she snapped, slipping entirely out of bed, "But I'm up _now._"

_Up and talking to appliances._ Pinching the bridge of her nose, Sakura paused before snatching her mug off the nightstand and stalking out of the room with as much dignity as she could muster. After, it was always best to study in the early morning, right?

She could feel her alarm laughing at her from behind her back.

_x_

"Woah, Sakura-chan, you look"—a glare from the pinkette prompted a quick change in what he was going to say—"great! You look totally awesome. Definitely great."

The woman in question opted not to say anything and strode past Naruto without saying a word. Her steps were angry, defiant, and an unconscious release of chakra had caused them to sink into the ground. Silently, Sasuke arched one eyebrow at Naruto who only shrugged in response. Sai kept his permanently-creepy smile on his face but the slight wrinkle between his eyebrows showed he was confused too.

Ignorant to the wary stares she was receiving, Sakura worked her body through her favorite yoga poses, relishing the refreshing strain on her muscles. She channeled her breathing purposely and blocked out all outside noises, focused only on the movements of her body. Three mugs of tea and hours of pouring over medical texts had done nothing to relieve her mind.

When her alarm had finally gone off at six forty five, the damn thing was laughing at her, Sakura was never more relieved for early morning practice. Maybe she just need a couple hours of pounding her teammates into the ground to take her mind off things.

Slowly rising from Downward Dog, Sakura opened her eyes as she rolled her shoulders. Sai, Naruto, and Sasuke were finishing their stretches up a couple paces away from her, and even Kakashi had arrived.

The sound of Sakura cracking her knuckles alerted her teammates that she was done stretching, and she smiled devilishly, "So! What are we doing today, Kakashi-sensei?"

Although Kakashi had not been on the scene for her Entrance, her cocked hip and upraised fist told him all he needed to know. Sakura was in the mood to cause some pain, and he was determined to not let it be his pain.

"I-I was thinking we could spar. It's been a while since you fought Sai, hasn't it?" Kakashi answered, veiling the slight tremor in his voice, "And Naruto and Sasuke always have something to work out."

"Will we be working on speed again?" While the question was addressed to Kakashi, her eyes were on her opponent, calculating. Naruto and Sasuke blew her out of the water with speed, but she had a slight advantage over Sai.

Kakashi had barely nodded when she pounced, slamming her knee towards Sai's unprotected side. The artist blocked her attack with his sheathed sword, and nimbly flipped to a respectable distance away from his opponent.

"Then what are you going to be doing, you lazy asshole?" Naruto demanded from beside Sasuke.

For once, they hadn't launched themselves at each other as soon as they heard the word "Go." Naruto glared at his sensei accusingly, but Sasuke directed his bland gaze towards his female teammate, following her every kick and punch.

"Oh, you know," Kakashi responded, whipping out his orange book and settling comfortably on the grass, "supervising."

Sasuke snorted at this, for all that his gaze was still directed at Sakura's fight, "Let's go, Dobe. Maybe today you can keep up with me."

"Fuck off, Sasuke! You can't touch me when I'm in sage mode."

_x_

"Good fight, Sai," Sakura finally announced, offering her fallen teammate a hand. She was covered in gashes and cuts from Sai's ink tigers and sword attacks, but she had never felt better.

Sai took her hand, and with her help he lurched to his feet, grabbing awkwardly at his side. Sakura punches had been fast and twice as furious this morning, and he had been unlucky enough to suffer some fractured bones.

"Here, let's get you over to that tree so I can heal you."

Sai allowed her to lead him over to the tree and sat down when she pressed on his shoulder. On the way to the ground, Sai winced, and Sakura's attention was drawn to his ribs. She felt mildly guilty for using him as a punching bag, but only mildly. More often than not it was her that walked from the training ground feeling like mincemeat.

Instead, Sakura's hands lit green as they worked on his damaged skeleton. Generally, patients felt a little pain when stitching fractures together, but Sakura had trained hard to develop an anesthetic byproduct in her chakra. Sai's posture relaxed under her touch, her chakra soothing the stinging in his chest, and he turned his oddly blank eyes towards her.

"So, Ugly, did sparring relieve your PMS?"

She twitched, itching to smack him, but eventually decided she had caused the boy enough damage today. Besides, he probably was just trying to start up a conversation.

"I'm not PMS-ing, Sai," she informed him tersely, moving to heal his fractured tibia, "I just didn't get enough sleep last night."

"Ah," Sai nodded sagely, coal eyes understanding, "That would explain your bloodshot eyes. I assumed you were just recovering from a hangover like your sensei."

"Look, Sai," she began to scold him finishing healing his leg. Yelling from behind her interrupted her lesson. Unlike Sasuke and Naruto's usual bickering, this was frantic. Confused, she turned to look behind to see what was wrong.

Sakura's face turned white.

Naruto was hobbling toward her with Sasuke flung across his shoulder, blood dripping down his face. She froze, locked temporarily back in her nightmares.

"…I didn't mean to, Sakura-chan! Teme just couldn't block my awesome fast move, and it knocked him unconscious!" Naruto was only a couple steps away from her, and suddenly her body snapped back into action.

"Quick, lay him down in the grass right there, Naruto," she commanded and Naruto scrambled to obey her. Sasuke's head lolled to one side as Naruto settled his body on the ground. Blood trickled dangerously from the gash in his head, obscuring most of his pale skin with the viscous crimson liquid. He looked so dead, so lifeless, that Sakura had to remind herself to breath.

She dropped to her knees beside him, barely feeling the wet grass against her skin. Hands encased in green hovered over his head, shaking, before closing the final inches between them. Her thumb smoothed the wound on his head first, and Sakura was relieved to find that it was actually quite small. Head wounds always did tend to bleed a lot. Soon after his skin stitched closed, Sasuke's eyes started to flicker open, and Sakura sighed a breath of relief. The chakra she poured into to his head only confirmed what she already knew.

"It's only a minor concussion," she breathed, withdrawing her glowing hands when Sasuke's obsidian eyes opened completely.

Sasuke blinked once then frowned, bringing a hand to his temple as he sat up slowly. Sakura sat back to allow him space, but flitted in closer and rested one green hand on his forehead. Sure, ninjas could recover from this point with some mild pain, but there were a couple perks to having a legendary medic as a teammate. Sasuke sighed as her hand pulsed on his temple and almost leaned into her palm for a millisecond before he straightened completely.

"There," she announced, clapping her hands together before she pushed on her knees to stand up, "Just go home and lie down for a couple hours. You're not in any danger, but you might be a little disoriented for a while."

"Aa," Sasuke grunted in response, his eyes narrowing as he caught sight of a certain yellow-haired ninja. Naruto had barely backed up a step before he was seized by the throat and lifted into the air.

"It's not my fault, you're too slow, teme!"

"Hn, _chidori_."

Sakura rolled her eyes and turned away from her squabbling teammates. Nothing new, but at the same time her heart felt lighter. For so long it had seemed that Team 7 would never be whole again, but here they were, bickering like normal.

A sticky sensation on her finger drew her attention, and she inspected her hand to find it coated in blood. Swallowing thickly, Sakura wiped the substance on her skirt. Yes, there was blood on her hands, but it was okay. They were okay.

"See ya later, Sai," she tossed over her shoulder, still not-so-casually wiping Sasuke's blood onto her clothes, "Tell the boys I had to shower before my hospital shift."

"I will, Ugly," Sai smiled, "Take a long one, it might help those unbecoming circles under your eyes."

Sakura's eye twitched, but she kept moving forward. He had probably been trying to be polite. Probably.

_x_

"No! Sasuke-kun, no!" Sakura screamed, surging up from her pillows. Her breaths came in shuttering sobs, and Sakura quietly allowed them to overcome her.

The nightmares had come again. Earlier that night she had been so convinced that she would get a solid night's sleep, worn out from a long day at the hospital. Her mind thought otherwise, apparently, and here she was, desperately hugging her knees.

It was only worse that the dreams had—nearly—no logical basis. Sakura had _always_ been able to heal Sasuke and Naruto. There had only been one moment, one, where she thought she would lose them, but she hadn't. Her skills hadn't failed her. Her boys hadn't died. And that had been months, almost a year, ago!

So why was she tortured with this dream every night?

Stifling her last sob, Sakura desperately wiped her already clean hands on her sheets before swiping them over her tear-stained cheeks. The air was stifling, and despite the fact that Sakura had thrown all her blood stained garments in the wash before she fell asleep, the air was coated in the iron tang of blood.

Fresh air, she needed some fresh air.

That decided, Sakura threw on her light coat over her pajamas and strapped on some sandals. She was still buckling the last strap when she flung her door open and bolted into the night. Although she hadn't planned on running, her body was moving, moving quickly, frantically, and Sakura allowed her mind to be consumed with the motions.

_Right foot. Left foot. Forward, jump. Turn, right foot. Left foot._

Eventually, Sakura's erratic heart settled into a steady, if elevated, pace, and the fog in her mind cleared. Footsteps slowed into an easy jog, and Sakura turned back towards her house. Maybe she could fall asleep now—

"Oof!" Sakura rebounded off something hard, and she landed on her butt with her hands splayed behind her. There was only a slight pause before she flipped back into a defensive stance, ready for whatever had attacked her.

"You should be asleep," a familiar voice scolded.

Obsidian eyes filled her vision, and Sakura lowered her guard. Sasuke stood before her, hair slightly mussed as if he had just woken up and hands in his pockets.

"So should you," she snapped back, sleep-deprivation making her angry. When Sasuke raised his eyebrows at her response, she sighed and swept her hand through her hair, "Sorry, Sasuke-kun, that sounded ruder that I intended. Are you okay? Sorry for running into you."

"I'm fine."

It was true. Sasuke didn't seem to have been displaced an inch by her barreling into him, and he didn't seem very shocked or surprised, either. Then again, Sakura wasn't sure "shocked" was in Sasuke's repertoire of emotions. Mildly surprised, maybe, but…

"You look like crap, Sakura," Sasuke interrupted her inner musings.

Scowling, Sakura self-consciously tucked a couple strands of pink hair behind her ear. His gaze was unblinking, and she felt horribly exposed under his eyes. She knew her eyes must be bloodshot after a couple of days on mere hours of sleep, and she was suddenly very aware of the hearts on her loose pajama shorts.

"Well, thank you so much, Sasuke-sama," she snarled, her voice much more aggressive than it ever was towards Sasuke. Her nose flared, and she moved to step past him, "If you'll excuse me, I'm going ba—"

His hand shot out and caught her bicep as she moved to pass him, warmth emitting from the grasp. Her body was spun back to face him, and Sasuke silently searched her face, eyes darting all over before settling on her own, "What's wrong, Sakura?"

The question put Sakura on the offensive, and Sakura's body tensed as if readying for a fight. Her mouth opened, ready to deliver a Sakura-style tongue lashing when his expression caught her.

Sasuke wasn't mocking her, or even teasing. His mouth was set in a tense line and his gaze was searching. _He's serious_, she realized with awe,_ and worried. Worried about me!_

That's all it took for all of the fight to slip from her body. She sagged in his grasp, and her eyes found the ground.

"I've been having nightmares," she admitted, shuffling her foot on the sidewalk.

"About?" Sasuke prompted, and Sakura flinched, drawing her arms in towards her body. Sasuke reluctantly let her leave his grasp, and pulled back to observe her.

"You and Naruto dying," she whispered, holding herself even tighter, "I can't save you."

Sasuke sucked in a breath, "It's not up to you to save us, Sakura."

"Yes it is!" she yelled, jerking her chin up to glare at him, "I'm a medic, I'm _your_ medic! How would you feel if Naruto died right in front of you, if I did?"

Sasuke blinked, slightly taken aback that she held herself so accountable for his well-being. He knew very well how he would feel if he wasn't able to save this fiery girl, and the though was enough to drive him outside on several occasions like tonight.

Sakura continued to glare at him, her emerald eyes sparking with anger. Sasuke met her gaze evenly, unsure of how to respond. Generally when that happened, he just didn't, but something about this situation seemed to demand a response. Behind the anger, Sakura was afraid.

And he didn't like that.

"Then don't fail," he finally said.

Sakura sputtered, gaze incredulous, "Great advice! Hadn't thought of that one! Just don't let you die, is that it? But what if I _do_ fail, what if I can't save you?"

"You won't."

Her mouth closed abruptly, aware of the blush rising on his cheeks, made obvious only by the streetlights._ He meant it. He believed in her._ For the second time that night, any anger she felt flushed from her system, "Thanks, Sasuke-kun."

Sasuke nodded stiffly in response, looking at her then glancing away. He cleared his throat before he looked back towards her again, "You should go to bed, now."

Her skin crawled at the thought of crawling back into bed at the moment, and Sakura smiled before shaking her head, "I don't think I can yet, Sasuke-kun. A couple more laps should do it, though."

Sasuke frowned. There was no way she would get enough sleep at the rate she was going. He had to make her go to bed. His cheeks flushed when he finally got an idea, and swallowed thickly. He wasn't being perverted; it was for her own good.

"Come with me."

"Where?" her question was innocent, and Sasuke raged internally. Did he have to spell it out for her?

"My house"— her gaze widened—"Just to sleep."

"Oh, no, Sasuke-kun. you don't have to do that. Really. I'll be fine. Promise," she held up her pinkie as if to pinkie-promise.

"Sakura," he growled, warning.

"I can take care of myself, Sasuke-kun."

"Obviously not."

"Says the hypocrite on a night walk."

"I have nightmares, too, Sakura!"

Both fell silent at the admission, and Sasuke raised his hand to pinch his nose with a sigh. Obviously, he hadn't meant to say that. He just got so worked up when Sakura argued with him.

"Just let me help you, Sakura," he finally broke the silence, only just dropping his hand from his face.

"Okay," she agreed after a pause, not moving.

Sasuke nodded jerkily and turned around, still not looking at her, and Sakura fell into place beside him. When Sasuke thrust his hand towards her, she didn't know what to do with it. Questioningly, she looked to him to find his blush had even moved to the tips of his ears, and realized he meant for her to hold it.

Nervously, Sakura accepted his hand, and allowed him to pull her towards Uchiha manor.

No, they weren't perfect. Yes, they were broken. Definitely, they had their share of skeletons in the closet. Yet, as Sasuke's hand wrapped tightly around hers, Sakura couldn't help but feel that whatever fears plagued them, they could face them together.

* * *

**There we go! Day three up and ready. Comments are welcomed!**


	4. Day 4: There Was No Warning

**Title:** I Don't Know You

**Summary:** Sasuke realizes the Sakura of his past and the Sakura of the present are two completely different people-and he's not so sure how he feels about the results.

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Naruto, but HEY, I might as well because look who's NOT being an asshat.

**Prompt:** _There Was No Warning _from day four of the SasuSakuMonth Prompts.

**Rating:** T

**Words:** 1,172

**Warning(s):** Murder

**Author's Note:** Still working on these prompts. Also, Badass!Sakura is my favorite Sakura. I do recognize she does more for Sasuke when she's kind and gentle, but I really love it when Sakura has those moments that show she's a kunoichi, too. Also ALSO, I had no idea what to do with this prompt. Enjoy the severely unedited piece.

* * *

Sasuke closed his eyes for a fraction of a second longer than what was considered to be the standard blink. His mind struggled to correlate the words he had just heard with the pearly pink lips that had formed them. Were he any less dignified, his mouth would have been hanging open, but he was a Uchiha. Uchihas did not _gape._

"What did you just say?"

Sakura paused, still facing away from him, her hands laced through her soft tresses as she tied them out of the way, "I said I'll take care of the guards, you go gather the hostages. They should be somewhere underground from what Hinata says."

"Take care of them," Sasuke repeated tonelessly, hand tightening on his blade, "Meaning what? Knock them out?"

The band Sakura had used on her hair snapped as she released it, the only sound in the silence that followed his question. Slowly, in a way that could easily be mistaken for delicate, Sakura turned to face him over her shoulder.

"It means I'm going to kill them, Uchiha," she explained, the condescending lilt to her tone betraying her annoyance.

The sudden anger Sasuke felt was unwarranted, he knew, but for some reason the idea of Sakura killing someone made his teeth grit. She was a healer, for Kami's sake; she wasn't supposed to _kill_ anyone. Looking at Sakura's bland expression only increased his aggravation. The Sakura he knew was expressive, overly-emotional, naïve. The pink-haired girl from his memories certainly would not announce cold-blooded murder without flinching.

"As if you could kill fifteen guards," Sasuke snapped, his lips drawing upward on one side in a mocking sneer. Accepting more blood onto his hands was more than worth it if it meant Sakura's hands remained clean, "I'll take the guards, you save the prisoners."

Being responsible for more deaths didn't particularly appeal to him. Since his return to Konoha Sasuke had recovered bits and pieces of his old optimism and ideals. For once, he didn't _have_ to wade through the crimson liquid to achieve his dreams. As a shinobi, there would always be some gore, and he could probably handle it better than most. Now, though, he didn't _have_ to enjoy it. It was okay, healthy even, if he wasn't fond of spilling excess blood.

For this, though-to keep Sakura's ivory hands unstained-he would.

Glancing once at the guards to ensure their position was the same, Sakura turned her whole body to face the last Uchiha. Her shoulders were tense, and her hand rested aggressively on one cocked hip, but her voice was even when she spoke.

"Sasuke, the hostages can't know the Leaf saved them, you have to use genjutsu, remember? That's the whole point of having you on this mission. I, on the other hand, can make it look like these guards were poisoned with something rudimentary," Sakura grabbed her gloves from the pouch at her hip, breaking eye contact as she pulled the gloves on tight with her teeth, "So, _I_ will kill the guards, and _you_ will save the hostages, and we can go back to ignoring each other, kay?"

Sakura's falsely positive tone sunk its talons somewhere deep in the recesses of his mind. There was a time, he remembered, when that's all Sakura was: a happy, love-struck, teenage girl. There was a time, when Sakura referred to him with affection instead of coldly.

If there had been a warning for this change, he had missed it.

Green eyes pierced into his, searching for any response. When he moved to open his mouth again, Sakura exhaled sharply and spun away from him—not crunching a single leaf in the movement.

"I don't have time to argue with you, Uchiha," she stated tonelessly, "Do your job and I'll do mine."

She had vanished into the night before her sentence was even finished, without so much as a backwards glance. Choking on the words that chased after her, Sasuke swallowed thickly. Every part of him wanted to call her back, tell her to stop, _ask_ her to stop—but he didn't.

Shinobi wasn't an occupation; it was a way of life. Once Sakura had set forward, she had set the mission timer off ticking deep within him. Wasting time now wouldn't just be foolish, it would risk lives. It could jeopardize the mission.

Usually, all it took was a minor threat to the mission to focus Sasuke. This time, Sasuke still tasted bile as he sped towards Hinata and the mission objective.

_x_

"Objective completed. Status requested," Hinata whispered into her microphone.

Static echoed from Sakura's end, and Sasuke felt his muscles tense. Seemingly following his wavelength, Hinata frowned and glanced at him. This was bad. Sakura should have called in the moment the coast was clear, but she hadn't.

And now she wasn't answering.

"Search and rescue?" Hinata's quiet voice interrupted his thoughts.

"Not necessary," a familiar voice answered, causing Sasuke and Hinata to spin around to face the medic-nin.

Sakura leaned heavily against the doorway, strands of pink hair falling out of the tie she had meticulously secured it in not even an hour before. Sasuke's sharingan took in the faded look to her eyes, and the miniscule tremors that ran through her body with every breath.

She was exhausted and out of chakra.

"One of the guards smashed my earpiece, and another one made it close this way," Sakura offered in explanation to their probing gazes with a shrug, "So I figured, hey, why not join the party?"

"You're out of chakra," Hinata voiced the same conclusion Sasuke had come to, her byakugan no doubt picking up the depth of her depletion, "That's why Sasuke and I didn't feel you coming."

"That or you're losing your edge," Sakura teased, the jibe obviously intended mostly for Sasuke with the way her eyes flitted to him long enough for her words to sink in before returning her gaze to Hinata, "Anyway, there were double the amount of guards that we expected, so I had to move twice as fast."

"Twice as many," Sasuke's screeched through the math and all the implications that came with it, "That means there were nearly thirty guards!"

"Don't worry, I got them all, Sasu-cakes," Sakura waved him off flippantly with her hand, "the methods of death were all rudimentary enough that it could be a large number or rogues that performed the attacks, I made sure the footprints were too muddied to determine otherwise."

Jaw tightening at the mocking nickname-that was going to have to stop immediately-Sasuke glared at Sakura. To her credit, Sakura didn't so much as flinch, and instead rolled her eyes before blowing him a kiss: _Kiss my ass._

Again, Sasuke was stuck staring at this new, blood-stained Sakura with a little bit of wonder. What exactly had changed in the time he'd been gone? She wasn't useless, she wasn't timid, she wasn't gentle, she wasn't afraid of killing, and she didn't love him.

His eyes followed the back of the callous woman he kind of/maybe/definitely loved as she trudged back up the dingy stairway, truly taking the time to observe who she was now. Collected, effective, deadly, graceful, and emotionless, she was the shining example a Konoha kunoichi.

Sakura had grown to be exactly what Sasuke had told her to be, but the results weren't what he had expected.

* * *

**Not gonna lie, I mostly posted this so I could get the other pieces I have after it up.**

**Nonetheless, I would enjoy your feedback on it :)**


	5. Day 5: Keepsake

**Title: **To Keep Keepsakes

**Summary: **Sometimes, memories hide in the most expected of places.

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Naruto, but HEY, I might as well because look who's NOT being an asshat.

**Prompt: **_Keepsake _from day five of the SasuSakuMonth Prompts.

**Rating: **G

**Words:** 2,257

**Warning(s): **None.

**Author's Note: **Kind of a new take on this, I think. I hope I kept him in character—romantic Sasuke is so hard to write! Going back and trying to get all the prompts I missed done.

* * *

Listlessly, Sasuke scanned his bookshelf for something to read. He had already read everything there at least once, and the only books he hadn't touched were Sakura's medical texts. Distaste curled his upper lip as he walked away and headed towards the weapons room; he was bored, but it would take a lot more than that to tempt him to attempt reading one of those books again—his pride restrained him from making that mistake again.

Unfortunately, even his most unused weapons were sharpened and cleaned to perfection. Briefly, Sasuke considered cleaning them all again, but decided that was overkill. Organizing them was out as well as every weapon rested in their own place—most were available to grab at a second's notice.

By the time Sasuke made it downstairs again, he was even hoping that Naruto would burst in his doors. Bickering with the dobe would at least break the monotony of the day so far. The fact that Naruto, Kakashi, and Sai weren't expected to return from his mission for three more days slightly lessened the likelihood of this, however. Sakura, who he usually counted on to keep him company, had been called into the hospital today for an emergency surgery, and he had no clue when she would arrive back home.

Aggravated, Sasuke collapsed into a chair at his kitchen table, the closest expression to a pout that an Uchiha would ever wear upon his face. The refrigerator caught his eye, and the temptation to cook something rose to mind. He had had a light snack after he finished training this morning, so maybe it was time for lunch. His stomach remained determinedly full, however, and he settled with making himself a cool glass of lemonade.

Which only reminded him of the beginning of his problem in the first place.

When Sakura had been called in by a messenger hawk early this morning, he had risen with the intention to train the day away. The sun seemed to have other plans, however, and when he finally gave up at noon, it was breaking 100 degrees.

The more bored Sasuke became, the sourer his mood got. Since when did he need people to keep entertained? When his family had been murdered, Sasuke had spent the majority of his time alone—even after Team 7 came into the picture. After he had betrayed the village, the only time he was in another human being's presence was when Orochimaru was training him.

Since the war's end, however, Sasuke had rarely had a second to himself. Understandably, upon his return he had been placed on probation—complete with mandatory around the clock guards. Bitter and still slightly vengeful, Sasuke had accepted all of this will thinly veiled hostility, and his friends—when did he start considering them friends?—had taken it into their own hands to make a better transition for him back to Konoha.

Despite opposition from the elders, Sakura, Kakashi, Naruto, and even Sai petitioned that they should be able to take the place of the ANBU guards because Sasuke would be _slightly_ more comfortable with them invading his personal space—they had planned on doing it anyway. When Tsunade approved, they became his permanent shadows.

Unlike his ANBU security task-force however, Team 7 refused to shut up. No matter how severely he glared, Team 7 remained unfazed. Naruto chatted continuously about what Sasuke had missed during the war or just the day's events. Sai insisted on asked a variety of questions that often ended in fights, and Kakashi constantly pestered him to read Ichi Ichi Paradise.

Sakura's presence had been, unexpectedly…pleasant.

Although she wouldn't let him sulk in his room, she was the most likely to just allow him space to think. It became a habit of theirs to walk up to Hokage Mountain, although they did take what she called the "scenic" route to increase his visibility in the village. Once there, Sasuke and Sakura sat a comfortable distance apart until dusk settled. She never pushed him to speak unless she sensed

It had been no wonder he asked her to move in with him three months after his probation's end.

And now she was gone.

Cursing, Sasuke got off of his chair to wander back to the bookshelf. Perhaps he had been too tired last time. There must be _some_ medical text that he could under—squish.

_What the…?_ Sasuke lifted his sticky foot to reveal a trail of a sticky purple substance. _Jelly._

Sakura had a fond spot for western breakfasts, and her latest favorite was toast with grape jelly and butter. Following the trail, Sasuke decided she must have dropped her precious jam in her haste to get to the hospital kitchen. Sure enough, when he opened the refrigerator door, the jelly container was tipped on its side, and leaking slowly onto the shelf that contained it.

The viscous purple liquid created an idea so quickly he stood taller. Cleaning. Cleaning would take time, and he had been meaning to do some additional organization anyway.

_A Uchiha house is a clean house,_ Sasuke remembered his father saying. There may have been a lot of things Sasuke found fault in his father for, but having a clean house was not one of them. Sasuke set to work.

_x_

It was nine at night when Sasuke approached the door to their attic.

His self-given mission had consumed his whole day, and the house showed for it. Hardwood floors sparkled with their new wax coating, and not a single surface lay unscrubbed. Every spot had been touched up with paint, and all the curtains and couch cushions had had the dust beat out of them.

In addition to cleaning, Sasuke had also spent time redecorating. The quest pushed him so much that not even a dreaded trip out into public alone could deter him from obtaining more shelving units, chairs, and dressers. Sasuke's house had been extremely simple when he was growing up. Every device they owned was top of the line, of course, but his house had very little in terms of decorations.

He wanted his life, his home, with Sakura to be different.

Sakura's bubbly personality already brought so much more life to his house than he had ever believed possible. The normally quiet halls were often filled with off-key singing or pop music playing from her small stereo. Instead of the starch, freshly laundered smell his house use to have, rich scents, like mahogany teakwood or lavender rolled from different rooms; Sakura had a love of candles.

There was so much more, so much life with Sakura, and he had been dwelling in the past for a long _long_ time.

Sakura had been more than patient, however. When Sasuke hesitated to clear off shelves in the living room full of his dad's old books, or remove his mother's simple decorations from the bathroom, she had just smiled, and offered to put the rest of her things in the attic. And, too afraid to let go of the familiar feel of his family home, Sasuke had let her.

Cleaning the jelly from the floor had started much more than a cleaning spree, however. Every cabinet, tile, drawer, and window Sasuke polished moved him one step closer to moving forward.

Now, a mess of family keepsakes lining the hall to attic, Sasuke was ready to put the past to rest.

Pulling the ladder to the attic down with a deft tug, Sasuke climbed the rungs with sure steps. After flicking on the light, Sasuke looked at the boxes littering the dusty floor and set his jaw determinedly. He could at least get Sakura's stuff down, they could put it up together.

In the end, it still felt wrong leaving his family memories abandoned in boxes. To compromise, he organized the decently sized attic to feel like another room, complete with his family's old rug and lamps. The clock chimed midnight as he descended, and there was still no sign of Sakura.

Worry worked its way onto his face, and Sasuke frowned at the clock—as if it was its fault Sakura was still not home. He may have shoved the ladder back into the attic with a little more force than necessary as a result.

Sakura's boxes lined the hall, leaving a narrow path to walk through. Just as he was rounding the corner, his shoulder brushed one box that was balanced haphazardly on the top. It was only his superior reflexes that snagged the small box before it hit the floor, but nonetheless a small tinkling noise followed.

Setting the box securely on the top row once again, Sasuke stooped to see what had fallen. It was a small silver necklace with small chains and a simple oval locket. There had once been a pattern on the oval, but time had worn it away to only the thinnest of embellishments. Obviously, Sakura had kept this locket a long time, and had probably worn it under her shirt.

Sasuke smirked and popped the locket open, mostly expecting to see a picture of himself sealed away. Instead, a long braided strand of pink hair fell out, and Sasuke twirled the hair slowly in his fingers, confused.

"Sasuke-kun, I'm ho—wow! Someone's been busy!" he heard Sakura exclaimed, followed by the sound of the door clicking shut behind her. "Where are you?"

"Here," Sasuke answered, turning towards the stairs. Sakura would be at the base of them any second.

"What inspired all of this, Sasuke? You know you don't have to get rid of all—oh," Sakura's eyes focused on the hair in his hands, and slowly ascended the stairs towards him. When she climbed the final step, she gestured towards the locket and Sasuke handed it over. A soft smile broke over her features, and Sakura ran her finger gently over the woven strand.

"It's from the Forest of Death," she finally explained, lifting her gaze towards him, "Ino apparently grabbed some of my hair, and she gave it to me after our match. She thought I might like it."

"And you kept it?" _Why?_

"It's a reminder of why I became strong," she murmured, tenderly rolling the hair back up and securing it in her locket, "And what I had to give up to do it."

With a final smile, Sakura squeezed the locket in her hand before dropping it back into the small box it had fallen from, "Now, were you waiting for me to set all this up?"

Not waiting for an answer, Sakura grabbed a box and bounced downstairs, skipping every other step.

"Yeah," Sasuke called after her, grabbing another box and walking steadily down the stairs, "I didn't want to do it wrong and have you get pissed at me."

Really, he had wanted to do it together, to set up their new life together, but it felt cheesy to say it aloud. Sakura seemed to know exactly what he meant though, and she laughed before standing on her tiptoes to kiss his cheekbone.

"As if I could get mad at you right now," her eyes were bright as she took in the room, "Seriously, Sasuke-kun, you didn't have to do this alone. I would have helped."

She would have, he knew, but the moment he started cleaning he wanted to do this for her. Sakura never seemed to cease giving up things for him, and he wanted to show her what she meant to him.

"But you like it?" Sasuke had spent an absurd amount of time talking to the Yamanaka woman to try and figure out what she would like. It had been Hinata's gentle insisting to go with his gut that kept him from throwing up his hands and never returning to the Kami forsaken furniture store. What was the difference between an end table and a nightstand anyway?

"I love it," she set the box she was carrying on her new table and spun around slowly, "We could keep more of your parent's stuff down here though, Sasuke-kun"—her expression was far too somber for such an occasion—"I know how much it meant to you."

"It's not gone, it's just—" Sasuke broke off, glancing towards the attic. _It had a new home._ He would show Sakura what he had done with his memories some other time, but for now he didn't have the words to explain, "Why don't you wear the locket anymore?"

"Hm? Oh," sometimes it took a little skill to follow his train of thought, "I guess I just decided I didn't need a physical keepsake all the time to remember, you know?" She stepped forward and tapped the side of his head lightly, "All my memories are in here. Out of sight doesn't mean out of mind."

Sasuke nodded and set down his box next to hers. She looked puzzled as he took her hand, wrapping it firmly in his own. All this time, he had been terrified to let go of his family keepsakes because he didn't want to lose them again. Instead of telling him what she already knew, she had let him come to the conclusion on his own terms, and he loved her for that. Gently, he raised her hand to his lips and kissed it.

_Thank you._

It may have taken him time to realize it, the boy with the haunting past, but Sakura had taught him that not all keepsakes had to be physical—and they never had to keep him from moving forward.

* * *

**Seriously, yo. How do you write Romantic!Sasuke without him being OOC? Did I do a decent job?**


	6. Day 6: Night In

**Title:** Night In

**Summary:** ** Disclaimer:** I don't own Naruto, but HEY, I might as well because look who's NOT being an asshat.

**Prompt:** _Night In _from day six of the SasuSakuMonth Prompts.

**Rating:** G

**Words:** 3,027

**Warning(s):** Intense fluff

**Author's Note:** Still working on these prompts. I'm considering making this part of a longer story, although it probably wouldn't be the first chapter.

* * *

Dusk greeted Konoha with the promise of frost in the air, and it became more obvious with every passing day that autumn was ending. Civilians dug out heavier coats from their closets, those who intended to enjoy the last of Konoha's warm days to the fullest, anyway.

Sakura Haruno was not one of these people.

Shivering, with both cold and exhaustion, the pink-haired medic strode purposefully towards her apartment, tossing brief waves to those she knew on the way. Despite the shortening of the days, Sakura had endured a long and grueling day at the hospital. Dark rings hung below emerald eyes, and her normally glossy petal hair hung limp. More than anything, Sakura was ready for a night to herself.

On top of her ten hour shifts at the hospital, there was still training with Team 7 to do, research on her latest medical hunch to delve into, nurses to oversee, and friends to keep up with. Sleep had been a rare luxury.

But not tonight.

Smiling, Sakura bounded lightly up the steps to her apartment, excited to have a couple of hours to completely relax. As she dug in her lab coat for her keys, Sakura paused to admire the crescent moon that illuminated the sky. Stargazing was a pleasure of hers, but there had always been something about the moon that commanded her attention: regal, strong, and bright, even in the face of the all-consuming darkness of the night.

Allowing herself one last look, Sakura would accidently spend hours staring up at the sky if she wasn't careful, Sakura pushed the key into the keyhole and opened the door to her apartment. Stagnant, tepid air greeted her, and she hurried to the temperature dial. She'd left the heat off all day, but tonight she was going to turn her apartment into a sauna—electricity bill be damned.

As she waited for her apartment to warm up, Sakura set to work transforming her apartment into a sanctuary of rejuvenation. Vanilla and lavender scents soon filled the air from some candles Ino had gotten her as a birthday present, and she snacked mildly-guiltily on strawberries and chocolate sauce for dinner. Simple instrumental music served as the soundtrack for the night, and after a couple piano songs, Sakura decided it was now warm enough in her apartment to run a bath. The pleasure of being enveloped in soothing, steaming water could quickly be reversed by chilly air in an apartment.

Gathering her fluffiest robe and her favorite bath salts, Hinata had found some that actually targeted easing stressed chakra pathways, Sakura entered her bathroom and shut the door behind her. The room was a soothing mint green accented with white, and despite how rarely she spent extended periods of time in the room, she was particularly proud of how it had turned out.

Sakura placed her supplies on the counter and sat down on the edge of the tub, reaching out to turn the pewter handle as far as it could go towards "hot." A portable, white radio balanced on the upper levels of her shelves, and Sakura soon had it playing slightly more upbeat violin solos. Pop music was fun, but tonight she had a craving for the classics.

When the tub had finally filled, Sakura grabbed some floating candles from the drawer under her sink and lit them with a modified version of the Great Fireball technique—she had been practicing with Sasuke lately—and turned off the lights.

"Hmm," she hummed contentedly as she sank into the nearly boiling water. The heat persuaded her tense muscles to relax, and Sakura stretched languidly.

Emerald eyes peeked from behind lowered eyelids, and Sakura's mind wandered with the swaying violin and flickering lights. This week had been a rough one. Between dying ANBU squads and elusive research material, Sakura's body was at its limit.

Unbidden, and image of a certain stoic Uchiha rose to mind, and Sakura sunk lower into the water. Interacting with Sasuke hadn't particularly been the high point of her week, either.

_And I thought we had been getting somewhere, too,_ Sakura sighed, blowing depressed bubbles in the water.

Previous to this week, Sakura and Sasuke had been spending quite a bit of time training together. One day, most likely due to Naruto's prodding, Sasuke had asked to spar with her. Whether he actually anticipated an interesting fight or not, Sakura couldn't be sure, but the surprised expression he wore after she dodged a round of his attacks effortlessly was one she would never forget. When they shook hands after the match—with Naruto and Kakashi alternatively cheering and jeering in the background—he had offered to train one-on-one with her more often.

Thankfully, Sakura had been able to accept his offer like a mature adult and not the hopeful little girl she felt like. They agreed to meet every other morning to exchange Sasuke's genjutsu knowledge for Sakura's medical ninjutsu. It had all been so great!

Then, this past week, Sasuke had made up a last minute excuse for their latest practice called the previous one off early. Desperately, Sakura had wracked her mind for something she might have done to make him uncomfortable, but kept drawing blanks; she had been nothing but polite and focused!

Shaking her head to expel the dreary thoughts that had invaded it, Sakura settled back in the water once more. With most of the initial heat gone, the water could really only be considered lukewarm. Unable to get comfortable, Sakura shifted again and again, frustration growing with every turn.

_I'm going to enjoy this night if it kills me!_ she decided, sinking resolutely beneath the water.

KIN KON.

_No._ Sakura popped her head from the water, praying that her ears were deceiving her. _This was not happening on her night in._

With a scowl, Sakura threw her legs over the tub and quickly toweled her body off. Now barely damp, she efficiently flipped her hair upside-down and secured it in the towel. A cloud of jasmine spiked the air as she jammed her arm into her fluffy pink robe, she had forgotten about the candles she had it stored next to.

Thoroughly disturbed at having her night interrupted, she charged out of the bathroom, her footsteps echoing angrily in the hall. If this was another man summoning her to the hospital…

"What?" she snarled, throwing open the door, "What do y—Sasuke-kun?"

Framed by her doorway was none other than the infamously non-social, Sasuke Uchiha. Moonbeams peaked through his hair, bringing out the hints of navy blue in his onyx hair. His arched eyebrow was highlighted by her porchlight, and the shadows on his angular face drew attention to how mature he had become. A black v-neck—which Sakura would bet her month's pay had the Uchiha fan embroidered on the back—and loose ninja pants completed his wardrobe, but tonight he went without his usual white bindings or arm guards. The cherry on top of this surprise was the simple white box sealed with a blue ribbon—no bow—Sasuke carried nonchalantly in his hand.

"Do you always answer the door in your robe." The words should have phrased a question, but his tone was dry and disbelieving.

"Ah, no, I just got out," she mumbled, nervously tightening the sash around her waist, "Did you want to come in?"

Sasuke's lips twitched, but the fleeting expression was gone the moment she had even processed that she had witnessed it, and the mysterious boy nodded before walking past her outstretched arm into her home. Sighing, Sakura glared at the glowing moon above, channeling her anger towards the heavens, _What in Kami's name could I have done to deserve this?_

After closing the door on the mocking heavens, Sakura turned and nearly ran face first into Sasuke's back. He hadn't moved more than two steps inside her apartment before freezing, and he continued to stare straight forward. Confused, Sakura peeked around him, _what was he looking at?_

"Expecting someone, Sakura?" Sasuke bit out, the teasing tone from earlier gone.

"Expecting…?" Sakura stepped out from behind Sasuke and was suddenly hit with what her apartment must look like to him. Candlelight provided most of the light, beside the occasional lamp, and sultry instrumental music played in the background. Just in view, a box of strawberries lay open on the kitchen table next to cans of whipped cream and chocolate sauce. She sucked in a deep breath.

"Oh. No. No no no no. I was having a night in," she explained, flapping her hands at the damning evidence around them, "And I've had a tough week, so I decided to spoil myself, and I like candles, and—oh shut up." The fleeting smirk was back in full-force upon Sasuke's face, and Sakura crossed her arms in a mock pout—okay, real pout.

Amusement gleamed within the Uchiha's usually disinterested obsidian eyes, and Sakura couldn't find it in herself to care he was laughing at her. In all honestly, she lived for these moments. Lived for the seconds they were teammates again. Lived for the moments that they didn't have to over-examine each other's words for hidden meanings and could just, _be._

"Annnyway," Sakura laughed, flicking on the master light switch, "I'm going to get dressed. Make yourself at home Sasuke-kun, I'll be right back."

"Aa," Sasuke answered, moving to remove his sandals.

Turning her back on the handsome boy in her apartment, Sakura had to make sure her feet were planted firmly to the ground for fear that she would fly away with happiness.

Once in her room, Sakura examined her wardrobe with despair. What did one wear for unexpected nighttime visitors? It would be a waste of an outfit to put on day clothes at night, but the fluffy shorts and tank she had planned on wearing didn't really seem to make the cut. After staring at her closet continued to yield no answers, Sakura growled. _Fuck it._

Sasuke came to see Sakura at home, he was going to get Sakura at home.

Quickly, Sakura pulled on a cute thong and her favorite yoga pants—proclaiming "BRANIAC" in silver, bolded letters down her thigh—and shrugged on a simple red tank. She considered going braless, her usual lounging choice, but at the last minute decided against it, and wormed her way into a black sports bra. Her fingers itched to dab on some lip-gloss, eye shadow, anything, but she refrained.

She refused to ruin—ruin whatever this was by trying too hard to impress him.

"So," Sakura drawled, walking down the hallway into the view of her living room. Sasuke looked up at her voice. Apparently, his idea of comfortable was leaning against her couch. "What are you doing here, Sasuke-kun?"

The white box Sasuke had been carrying was suddenly thrust towards her, and Sakura took a quick step back to avoid getting slapped in the face. When Sasuke continued to determinedly scowl at her closed door, Sakura hesitantly took the box from him, a question mark etched on her eyebrows.

Slowly, she half expected something to pop out at her, Sakura slid off the blue ribbon and opened the box. Upon cracking the lid, a delectable scent filled the air and plume of steam surrounded the box. Inside sat a blue ceramic bowl filled two inches below the rim with steamed rice. Red umeboshi dotted the white rice, and Sakura's stomach did a flip not at all related to food.

Her favorite.

If Sasuke brining her food randomly wasn't weird enough, the fact that she happened to know he HATED the pickled ume fruits certainly added to the "weird" factor. This wasn't something he would have been buying for himself and decided to share; he would have had to go out of his way to get these. Now, the question was: why?

Suspicion settled in her stomach, and Sakura looked at Sasuke from over her delicacy, fighting to keep her expression neutral, "Did you lose a bet or something?"

"I don't gamble, Sakura," he growled.

"I don't know, you and Naruto seem to have a new bet for each other every training session. I can see him talking you into this," she shrugged, holding her gift as delicately as a ticking bomb, "You have to admit, it's very unlike you."

Sasuke's immediate reaction was to scowl at her, but that wasn't all too shocking. Sasuke's default expression was scowl. Unlike most, however, Sakura had endured years of scowl, glares, and everything in between, so she did not back pedal to appease the Uchiha. Fighting with Sasuke wasn't something she normally did, but she wanted an answer.

"The dobe had nothing to do with this," Sasuke finally intoned darkly, "I just know that you never take the time to make dinner for yourself when you work a double shift at the hospital."

"Oh." The box in her hands suddenly seemed much more precious. "Thank you, Sasuke-kun, you really didn't have to."

"Hn," he grunted, pushing off the couch and angling himself closer to the door, "Just take better care of yourself, Sakura."

Sensing that Sasuke was about to leave, Sakura scrambled for something to say, "Hey, I was just about to pop in a movie, um, if you're interested in hanging out. I mean, I know strawberries and chocolate aren't your usual snacking choice, but I'm sure I have some tomatoes, or, something…"

With the words out of her mouth, she suddenly felt bare, exposed. She hadn't meant to ask him to stay, but when she saw him moving to leave, her mouth had moved before her brain could process it. _It's like I'm twelve again,_ she thought bitterly, watching apprehensively for his reaction.

Sasuke had paused with his hand on the door, and Sakura watched as his gripped tightened momentarily on the knob before becoming slack again. She couldn't see his face, but it seemed like he was having an internal argument.

"Fine. One movie," Sasuke agreed, stepping away from the door, "Just one."

She wasn't sure who he was cautioning, her or himself, but at the moment she didn't care. Her face split into a giant grin, and she quelled her need to squish him in a hug. Had he been Naruto, Sakura wouldn't have given it a second thought. They were always hugging each other: for comfort, out of excitement, in greeting.

Sasuke, however, had always been different.

"Great!" she beamed, setting her umeboshi and rice down on the end table, "Why don't you pick a movie? I'll grab up us some snacks."

"Aa," he answered looking slightly out of place. His hands dug farther into his pockets than usual, but he turned mechanically towards where she had gestured to pick one out.

Sakura scurried around the kitchen, plucking tomatoes from her refrigerator, throwing popcorn in the microwave, and pulling out some carbonated beverages. By the time the timer had dinged, the tomatoes were cut and arranged on a plate. On a whim, Sakura sprinkled salt on the red wedges, hoping to enhance the flavor a bit.

Juggling everthing in her arms, Sakura walked out to her living room and placed the tomatoes and popcorn bowl on the opposite end table, plopping herself on the seat next to her dinner. Sasuke was crouched infront of her DVD player, and he rose as her TV flickered from azul to the opening credits.

"I made you some popcorn," she said, passing him a soda, "I'm not sure if you'll like it, but it's not sweet, so you can try it." Sasuke nodded and plucked a tomato from his plate. Anxiety quickly spread through her as she remembered the salt. "Ah! I put alittle bit of salt on them. That's just the way I eat them. I have more if you don't…" she trailed off as Sasuke popped the wedge in his mouth and chewed.

"It's fine," he said, swallowing the last of the slice. He wasn't smiling, but his eyes were a little more tender than usual, "What are you going to eat?"

"This dinner!" she smiled, pulling the blue bowl into her lap and clacking her chopsticks.

"Hn, good," Sasuke smirked as the movie roared to life.

"Oh, I love this one!" Sakura squealed, stuffing a plum into her mouth. It wasn't a romantic comedy by any means, but neither was it a gore fest. It had been a while since she had seen it, but she remembered it was one that kept her mind working the whole way, trying to figure out the plot before it unfolded.

"Hn, figured."

Sakura prodded him with the foot that was curled up on the couch, "Shhhh. The beginning's the best part."

Sasuke didn't respond, but she could feel his eye roll as he munched more loudly than was necessary on popcorn. Feeling impish, Sakura playfully stuck her tongue out at him and was rewarded with a deep chuckle.

Each member stayed respectfully on their side of the couch as the movie played, and Sakura quickly polished off her tasty treat. Her stomach felt full and satisfied, and she curled up on the couch to enjoy the movie. She leaned fully into the back of the couch and wedged one of her legs under the armrest while her other dangled over her curled up leg and the couch. Sasuke remained mostly still, legs slightly spread as he leaned on a hand propped up on his armrest.

The warmth of the house settled heavily upon them, and the candles only added to the peaceful atmosphere. Despite the fact that they were only halfway into the movie, Sakura found her yawns becoming more and more frequent.

When she struggled to hide her latest yawn behind her hand, she was pulled rather forcefully into a muscular thigh.

"Just sleep, Sakura."

Too tired to resist, Sakura's eyes fluttered closed in response. Forest scents tinged with smoke invaded her nose, and she was soon surrounded in the scent. Unconsciously she nuzzled her muscular pillow, allowing sleep to take her.

_Warm bath, umeboshi_, _and a movie with Sasuke_, she thought sleepily, _Not a bad night in._

* * *

**Original title is original.**

**In all seriousness, I really do like this piece, I think I kept them in character and I think I could build this up to a bigger piece. If only had an audience who could tell me what they thought of it! *waves hands dramatically at "review" button***


	7. Day 7: Night Out

**Title:**Night Out

**Summary:**In which Sasuke's a lightweight and Sakura is not.

**Disclaimer:**I don't own Naruto. If I did, there would be baby Uchihas running around by now.

**Prompt:**_Night Out_ from day seven of the SasuSakuMonth Prompts.

**Rating:**M

**Words:** 7,084

**Warning(s):**Language, Drinking, and Sexual Situations

**Author's Note(s):** Am I the only one still doing these? I've been struggling to come up with a response to this prompt that hasn't already been used, and I think I found it. Sides of NaruHina, SuiKa, and NejiTen if you squint. Shout out to cumberwho-and-johnlock like always. If you're into Cherik or Johnlock, I highly recommend giving her stuff a read.

* * *

Music pounded in her ears, far too loud to be considered background noise, and the excess of bass thrummed through her chest and shook the drink on the counter enough to cause ripples in the clear liquid. A vast array of scents assaulted her nose because every girl had her signature fragrance and even the men had broken out their cologne. Overlying the heavily perfumed atmosphere was a cloud of alcohol—a large factor in her friends' behavior at the moment.

In the dim lighting, highlighted by random flashes of strobe lights, Sakura could barely make out the forms of a few of her friends. Hinata and Tenten danced together near the edge of the crowd. It seemed Tenten was attempting to teach the tipsy Hyuga heiress how to shimmy, and Hinata giggled as she clumsily followed her friend's movements. Sakura felt a genuine smile grace her face, glad these two girls in particular were enjoying themselves.

Since the end of the war, Tenten hadn't so much as glanced in another man's direction. There was never an official statement, but the Konoha 12 had all assumed that she and Neji had been an item. Even if Tenten never mentioned it directly, Sakura recognized the signs of pining and grieving well enough to know that her friend was struggling. Unfortunately, Sakura had reason to believe Neji's death wasn't the weapon mistress' only problem. For these past two months since the war Tenten had been uncharacteristically adamant about not drinking, and Sakura made a note to talk to her about it later.

Purple hair swirled as Hinata spun Tenten around merrily. At first glance it seemed Hinata was allowing the alcohol lower her inhibitions, but then Sakura noticed that she had just expertly swung her friend out of the grasp of a seedy-looking man. Not many expected the strong bond that had formed between the two girls but their personalities blended as seamlessly as Obito and Kakashi's minus the emotional trauma. Tenten had functioned as Hinata's rock as she took on the divide in the Hyuga house. Neji's death had only fueled her fire, and the once stammering woman was now unyielding in her pursuit of equality.

Hinata deserved this night out, and so did Tenten. Sakura's viridian gaze finally turned from the two, downing her glass in one fluid gulp and motioning for another.

It wasn't long before she spotted her best friend, draped over a nameless hunk, taunting and teasing in a way that only Ino could make classy. The blonde woman caught her friends' stare, and winked, jerking her head towards the dance floor in a universal movement: _Get your ass out here, Forehead!_

Sakura smiled ruefully and shook her head, mimicking to drinking a shot. Ino's baby-blues narrowed in concern, and Sakura looked away before she saw anything else in Ino's expressive eyes. She wasn't sure if it was due to her time in the interrogation squad or if it was due to their friendship, but Ino has always been able to read Sakura like an open book, and Sakura doesn't feel like being read at the moment.

"You're seriously going to sit this one out, too?" a voice drawled from her right side.

Sakura sipped on the Malibu that has just been slid across the bar to her before conceding to answer the only woman in their group who hadn't disappeared onto the dance floor. "Not necessarily, Karin," she corrected, still idly drinking her beverage, "I just want to get a little more drunk before I head out."

Groaning, the red-haired woman slumped exasperatedly onto the hand propped up on the bar, "That'll take all night!"

The corner of Sakura's lips twitched slightly even though she ignored Karin's increasingly loud complaints. It's not as if Sakura didn't share her sentiments; if truth be told, she would like nothing more than to get out and enjoy herself, but she just couldn't. For some reason, Sakura couldn't get past all the things that still needed to be done, all the patients she should be healing.

Really, Sakura shouldn't be here at all. The wounded had only recently finished their journey from the battlefield to the hospital, and she knew first-hand how understaffed the hospital was. _But no,_ Sakura cursed inwardly, downing another drink in one go, _Shishou and Shizune just insisted this was for my own good_. The two women had practically tossed her into the arms of her friends and forbade her from coming back until _at least_ tomorrow night.

"Okay, that's it," Karin declared, grabbing Sakura's arm and dragging her off her stool, "With those freaky medic powers of yours, we both know it'll take you at _least_ another hour to get even slightly tipsy, and your constant frowning is starting to piss me off."

"Well then don't stay with me, Karin," Sakura snapped, yanking free of her grasp with little effort, "I don't need a babysitter."

Karin observed her from over the top of her glasses with a look so sympathetic, Sakura wondered if she knew the second reason Sakura was throwing herself so desperately into her work. When the stare-off continued, Sakura sighed, pinching her nose and finally consenting to follow Karin into the mass of writhing bodies. _Of course she knows_. It's probably one of the reasons the ex-sound-nin has stuck so closely to her side for the duration of this entire night.

No one expected them to be friends, especially when both had once been so vocal about their admiration for the same boy. Nonetheless, Karin hasn't forgotten how Sakura saved her life, and Sakura can't begrudge anyone who volunteers their chakra to the medical team. So they stuck together, relationship full of quips and snark and a solid mutual understanding of what it's like to be left behind.

Ino squealed the moment she spotted Sakura on the dance floor, and she immediately ditched her latest victim to throw her arms excitedly around her neck.

"Forehead! You came out! How'd this bitch get you here?!"

"Well, that's easy," Karin sneered at Ino, hands crossed under her chest, "_Some_ of us are fun to hang out with."

Ino's pale blue eyes flashed as she relinquished her hold on Sakura to square off against Karin. Although Ino had probably consumed more than her fair share of alcohol, the only sign she felt any of it was the slight slur to her words, "Bitch, please, you _wish_ you were as fun to hang out with as me."

Karin snorted derisively, "What, should I be entertained watching you practically dry-hump every male in this club?"

Sakura, who had been standing off to the side, straightened up at this. It was normal for Karin and Ino to use insults in lieu of greetings, but this was going a little too far. Before things got bloody, Sakura slithered in between the two of them.

"Woah, guys, we're here to dance, remember?" she cajoled, swinging her hips slightly and raising her arms above her head before gently bumping each girl's hips with her own, "Have fun?"

There was a tense moment when neither girls paused in their stare down. Electricity sparked between crimson and baby blue eyes, and Sakura sighed tiredly, waiting for her obnoxious friends to calm down. Seriously, was she friends with _anyone_ normal?

At the sound of her annoyance, Ino and Karin seemed to simultaneously remember the point of going out tonight and broke off their glaring contest. Neither moved to apologize, however, and they both looked pointedly away from the other.

"Fine, you're right, Forehead," Ino admitted with a dramatic flip of her hair. Her eyes flashed mischievously under her bangs before she snatched Sakura and pulled her away, "But you're so dancing with me!"

"Oh no!" Karin growled, seizing Sakura's other arm, "Who do you think got her out here, Pig?"

"Well, this looks like a party!" Tenten laughed, gently pulling Sakura from her "monkey in the middle" position, "I wasn't sure we'd ever get you out here!"

"I'm so glad, Sakura-san!" Hinata exclaimed, hugging her exuberantly and beginning to sway to the music. She raised her head from Sakura's shoulder and pointed at her seriously, "You know, Sakura-san, you need to have more fun. Being serious all the time is no good for you."

Sakura laughed at Hinata's slightly slurred words, but nodded none the less.

"Okay, okay," she yielded, lips turned up in a smile, "You guys win! I'll dance."

The quartet of girls squealed in triumph and attacked Sakura in a giant group hug. Since they were aware of Sakura's superhuman strength, none of them bothered pulling any of their weight as they jumped on her. Sakura's legs nearly buckled in surprise, but she caught on quickly enough to chanel chakra to her legs and stand upright.

The laugh that escaped her throat was an honest laugh for once. Much different from the sarcastic chuckles she'd been doling out these days. It felt good to mean it.

"Ack! Guys, enough," Sakura called, spitting out indistinct colors of hair from her mouth. Lipgloss and long hair never did mix well. Her friends obliged, but their retreat was limited in terms of space due to the crowded floor.

"Oooh!" Hinata squealed suddenly, grabbing the nearest person by the hand, which just so happened to be Sakura. She was confused until she caught the familiar tempo of this current song. She laughed, _No way, it couldn't be…_

"It's our soooooong!" Ino shrieked, confirming Sakura's suspicions.

During their first sleepover as a group, the Konoha girls had been celebrating the fact that they were all chunins. In the pandemonium that occurred that night, Sakura tried not to focus on the scent of smoke that memory always incurred, the girls had decided to choreograph a dance moves to one of their favorite songs.

Karin looked confused as they all began to shimmy in unison, but Ino dragged her into the line they'd formed. The choreography of 14 year olds wasn't that hard to pick up on. Some of their movements were hindered by the skintight clothing they wore, like the knee drop, but they attempted all that they could remember, giggling hysterically when someone messed up.

During the bass drop, all the girls took their turns dropping down to the floor, but the alcohol ended up working against Hinata. She dropped completely out of turn, taking Karin down with her who had been leaning on her. More hysterics ensued.

Looking around at her group of friends, Sakura couldn't help but feel as if a little bit of the weight on her chest had been lifted. Maybe they were right. Maybe she had needed this night with her girls.

And no one else.

_x_

"Oh God, who let _him_ in?" Karin growled, disentangling herself from Ino and maneuvering through the pulsating crowd.

It seemed Sakura was the only one who heard their friend, and she lifted her head curiously to see who Karin was talking about. The packed room made it difficult to spot Karin, however, and Sakura turned to Tenten who currently hand one arm slung around her waist, "Who is Karin talking about? Who's here?"

Tenten shrugged, which was odd to see when she was in the middle of shimmying, and looked away from Sakura's inquisitive face. Suspicion tickled the back of Sakura's senses (Tenten always had been a horrible liar), and she directed her probing stare Ino's direction.

"You know, I think Karin might need some backup on this one," Ino contemplated, completely ignoring Sakura's questioning gaze, "I'll be back in a sec, but I'm sure you'll find something to entertain you before I get back."

She told herself she was imagining the wink that Ino sent her way; it meant less trouble that way.

Whatever, she wasn't going to go borrowing trouble. Pushing Ino and Karin's evacuation to the back of her mind, Sakura focused on enjoying her time with her girls. It had taken forever to get to this point, and she wasn't about to ruin it now.

Thankfully, Hinata took this as her cue and hooked her fingers into the belt loops on Sakura's shorts before using them to pull her closer. It was so unlike the Hyuga heiress to be forward like this, but Sakura laughed, following her lead. Her chuckles got even louder when Tenten started playfully grinding on her from behind. They were quite the group tonight.

It wasn't until three songs later that the dynamics shifted again. Sakura was in the middle of twirling a grinning Hinata when the girl's pale eyes widened mid-spin, and she broke away from Sakura's grasp. Immediately on the defensive, Sakura stealthily peeked in the direction where Hinata had been looking.

"What's wrong?" Sakura whispered, recapturing her friend's hand. Her muscles were tense and ready to act despite the fact that she was carelessly dancing. Kunoichi habits died hard.

"Oh, no no, we're not in danger," Hinata assured her, squeezing Sakura's hand before relinquishing her grip, "I just, um, I just saw a friend of mine, and I need to go say hello real quick."

Hinata disappeared in the blink of the eye after her statement, leaving Sakura standing dumbstruck in the middle of the floor. _What. The. Fuck._

"What is _wrong_ with everyone?" Sakura demanded, throwing her hands up in Tenten's direction. Of the four friends that she arrived with, the brunette was the only one who hadn't abandoned her yet. "I mean, there's no way in hell Hinata has more friends than us who would be seen in a club. What's going on?"

"No clue," Tenten shrugged, not meeting Sakura's eyes again, "And I hate to abandon you like this, but I think I'm going to call it a night," she shouted loud enough that Sakura could hear her as she gestured at the door. Her russet eyes looked melancholy for a split second before she smirked and winked, "Have fun."

_Have fun?_ Sakura huffed and placed her hands on her hips, staring in the direction Tenten had just disappeared in. _What had gotten into everyone?_

Now alone on the dance floor, Sakura became very aware of the men who sidled in her direction. Apparently, a single woman on the floor screamed, "Come and get it!" She had barely taken a step when she was surrounded by three men.

"Hey sweetie, come dance with me," one called, making a move to snag her waist which she avoided nimbly.

"Don't be like that, honey, we'll show you a good night," another slurred, backing up behind her.

"Not interested," Sakura cut them off, dodging their attempts to pull her towards them and slipping expertly through the crowd towards the bar. Sometimes being a kunoichi had its benefits.

"One zombie cocktail, please," Sakura ordered, sitting down heavily at an open seat at the bar. With all her friends suddenly MIA, Sakura was technically free to head home any time she liked. Curiosity kept her in place; she knew her friends were up to something, she just didn't know _what._

And she kind of wanted to find out.

"Thanks," she muttered as the bartender slid a peach colored cocktail with an orange and lime resting on the rim her way. She pushed the money to the edge of the table, motioning for him to keep the change, and sipped on her drink: citrus-y, with more than a little rum.

"Sure you can handle that, Sakura?"

Sakura nearly choked on her drink at the familiar, gravelly voice. Beside her sat Sasuke Uchiha, elbows resting on the table as he sipped an amber liquid from a short, ice-filled glass. _How in the world had she not noticed him there?_

"I'll be fine, Sasuke," she replied, fighting to keep her tone even when her heart was beating erratically in her chest. She wasted to be mad at him; she wanted to be bitter and spiteful and show him she was done with his aloof bullshit. Sasuke had barely spoken to her in the two months since the war, even though it had been her who had brought him back from the brink of death.

The image of his battered body filled her mind, and Sakura took a generous gulp of her cocktail. That sight had given her nightmares for weeks, and she remembered the tears that flowed as she struggled to keep Sasuke alive after his fight with Naruto.

Widening her senses now that she knew Sasuke was here, it wasn't long until she found more familiar chakra signatures. Naruto, Sai, and even Suigetsu were here. The boys must have decided that a night out was in order for them as…oh.

_Oh._ A light bulb went off in Sakura's head, and she fought the sudden urge to seek out Ino and strangle her. They were setting her up. Suddenly Tenten's sad expression, Ino and Karin's cooperation, and Hinata's blush made sense. This whole night had been meant to get Sasuke and Sakura in the same room from the beginning. She wondered if Sasuke had figured it out too.

From under her eyelashes Sakura observed her old teammate. The ridiculous purple belt had disappeared as soon as they had reached Konoha, and Sakura couldn't say she was sorry to see it go. The plain, high-collared shirt remained, although Sasuke did keep it zipped to his chin these days. She was sorry to see that change; Sasuke's torso was artistic inspiration in physical form.

This subtle shift in fashion sense meant nothing in regards to his personality, however. Sasuke may be back in Konoha, and he may have his hitai-ate displayed around his waist, but he still possessed the same, anti-social, brooding personality he always had. So how did they get him here?

"What do you want, Sakura?" Sasuke didn't glance in her direction, but he was perceptive as ever. His drink rested on the bar along with both of his hands, and he stared—broodingly, of course—into the distance. Obviously, this wasn't his first choice in scenery.

"Just wondering how they convinced you to come out," she supplied, continuing to observe him.

This caused Sasuke to frown, and he downed the rest of his drink in one fluid motion. He exhaled slowly after swallowing, and immediately motioned for another. If she looked closely, Sakura could see the stiffness in his shoulders, or the way his jaw seemed permanently clenched.

Abruptly she laughed and turned away from her observations, settling her lips around her straw for a quick sip taste of the citrus-y mixture. Sasuke finally looked up from the bar, and raised a single eyebrow.

Sakura grinned around her straw, and finally released it with a soft smack of her lips. Obsidian eyes focused on this momentarily before recapturing her gaze. A chuckle escaped her as she turned to face him more openly, resting one elbow on the table.

"You, Sasuke Uchiha," she declared, propping her head on her hand and flicking an accusatory finger in his direction, "are out to get drunk."

At first, Sakura thought he was going to deny it. His face was expressionless, save the arch to both his eyebrows, as if he couldn't believe what Sakura had just accused him of. Then, with a sigh resembling a growl, Sasuke returned his gaze to the full glass that had appeared in front of him.

"You try spending a whole week with Naruto," he grunted, downing half his drink in one steady pull.

The giggle that met his answer was infectious, and the corner of his lips turned up slightly. Pleased to have gotten a reaction from him, Sakura raised her cocktail in his direction and waited for his response. To her satisfaction, Sasuke hesitated only for a second before meeting his glass with hers in a toast.

"For once, we have the same goal," she grinned, bringing the drink back to her lips and taking a long swig.

Sasuke snorted and rolled his eyes. The action caused Sakura's eyes to narrow into furious slits, and she leaned towards him across the bar, "What's that supposed to mean?"

Naruto chose this moment to collapse into the stool next to her, breaking whatever stare-off had been about to occur between her and Sasuke. She allowed herself one more glower and then spun to face her blonde teammate.

"How's my favorite knucklehead?" she asked, ruffling his hair affectionately. She caught a flash of purple from behind him, and noticed Hinata sitting on the stool next to him, a large blush firmly in place. Sakura met the Hyuga Heiress' eyes and grinned, "Ah, so that's where you disappeared to."

Hinata's blush got even darker at that, and Sakura laughed at her embarrassment without ill-intent. Hinata's crush on Naruto had been the worst-kept secret for the past four years; it was good to see her finally at Naruto's side.

"Yeah, Hinata-chan is a really great dancer," Naruto exclaimed, saving Hinata from further teasing. Sakura saw him squeeze her hand affectionately, and felt a minor rush of jealousy. He and Hinata's relationship was so easy, and once it started it was obvious they were meant to be together: two optimistic rays of light.

Her love life was anything _but_ easy. She chanced a glance at the silent raven-haired nin beside her. No matter what he did, Sakura would always love this man steeped in darkness. It was so easy, especially with him back in Konoha, to fall even deeper for him. If she'd been younger, she would have professed her love all over again.

But that wasn't what he needed right now.

Despite the pain it caused her at times like this—watching Hinata and Naruto wrapped up in their conversation together, completely oblivious to the rest of the room—Sakura had vowed over Sasuke's unconscious body that she would be there for him. And what Sasuke needed more than anything right now was friendship—not unwanted love. So, even though she still loved him, she refused to throw it at him.

"So, Sakura-chan, what have you and teme been up to over here?" Naruto interrupted Sakura's thoughts as she finished off her cocktail.

"Well, looks as if we're both here to get drunk," she commented slowly, setting down her empty glass and plucking the orange from the rim.

Hinata peered worriedly at her from around Naruto's shoulder, but Sakura ignored her and chose to suck delicately on the orange slice instead. Naruto's blue eyes widened momentarily, and then he burst out in raucous laughter. The volume of his laugh drew even Sasuke's annoyed gaze, and they waited for Naruto to quiet down and explain his reaction.

"Oh, man," Naruto exhaled, still wiping tears from his eyes, "That's just too great." He chuckled again and pointed at Sasuke, who looked more than a little displeased, "Be careful teme. If you get too drunk Sakura could take your virginity."

Sakura's ears burned and she swatted Naruto's head hard enough for him yelp, "Naruto, how dare you! I would never take advantage of Sasuke like that!"

"Are you actually implying that Sakura can hold her alcohol better than I can?" Sasuke intoned darkly. His tone was level enough, but a vein pulsing in his jaw exposed his irritation. Apparently the idea that Sakura had a higher alcohol tolerance was more disturbing to him than the slur to his sexual prowess.

"Hell yeah," Naruto confirmed, still holding his head, "Sakura could drink you under the table."

"Bullshit."

Sakura couldn't explain what happened next. All she knew is that she was tired of being underestimated, and she was in the mood to set Sasuke straight. Petal-pink hair whipped around her face as she whirled around on her barstool to face Sasuke, "What, don't think I can?"

The smirk on Sasuke's face only served to irritate her even more, "Sakura, you're five four and a girl. There's no way you can outdrink me."

"Ooooooooh," Naruto hummed from behind them. He could probably tell where this was going.

"Fine," she spat, slamming her hand down on the table and motioning for the bartender, "How much have you had to drink?"

"Three shots of Jack Daniels."

"Well aren't you a big manly man," she cooed. Sasuke's eyes narrowed dangerously at her tone, but Sakura didn't flinch and continued on, "That makes us even. My cocktail had a shot of light, dark, and Bacardi rum in it, so we're even."

Sasuke nodded, grinning in a way that meant trouble but was oh-so-sexy. "What are you proposing Sakura?" His sultry voice matched his smile.

"Shots," Sakura declared, "Naruto will pick the liquor so that neither of us will have any preference in this challenge. The last one standing wins."

Neither Sakura nor Sasuke lowered their gaze. The longer viridian eyes stared down obsidian the hotter it seemed to get in the club, regardless that the swarming bodies on the dance floor were actually starting to thin. Goosebumps rose on her flesh from the electricity shooting between them, and she was just thankful it wasn't a full-blown shiver. Kami, she had it bad.

"Naruto, pick one," Sasuke intoned, not even flicking his eyes towards his best friend.

"Um, I guess, vodka?" Naruto stammered, trying to go for something neither had shown preference for that night. Jack Daniels was whiskey, right?

"Perfect," Sakura chirped, her voice so sweet it was mildly disturbing. Naruto shivered and backed up closer to Hinata who patted his shoulder comfortingly. Sakura turned her disturbingly sweet smile onto the bartender, "Ten shots of vodka each, please."

The bartender seemed to share in Naruto's discomfort, and he hovered uncertainly in front of the group. It seemed that he, however, was concerned that Sakura was overdoing her alcohol intake, if his lingering gaze on he was any clue. Sakura sighed softly, he must be new here. Apprentices of Tsunade could hold their liquor. When he had yet to leave, Sakura slipped a bill his way to encourage him to get a move on. As predicted, the note convinced him to forget all about his moral dilemmas. Money had a funny way of doing that.

"Just put it all on my tab, okay? And keep 'em coming," she called after his retreating figure.

"Sakura-chan, I'm not so sure this is a good idea," Hinata interrupted, placing her forefingers together in her uneasiness.

Sakura felt herself bristling at the insinuation from yet _another_ person that she couldn't handle her liquor. What was it about her that screamed "WEAK" to everyone else? Didn't they know she could handle herself?-even after all she'd accomplished?

_Woah, where did that come from?_ Sakura wondered, realizing the direction her rant had taken. After taking a second to regain her thoughts, Sakura caught on to what Hinata was actually concerned about. Her pale eyes were flickering from Sakura to Sasuke at an alarming rate. Hinata didn't want them to fight.

Sakura hesitated. There was a chance Hinata was right. She and Sasuke didn't have the most stable relationship sober, and there was no reason to think that adding alcohol to the mix would be any better.

The sound of shot glasses clinking on the bar infront of her drew her attention from her musings. Once the glasses were set, the bartender set to filling each of them, starting with his glasses and moving to hers..

"Still time to back out, Sakura," Sasuke goaded as they watched her glasses fill. Any chance of Sakura calling the bet off disappeared with the utterance of those words, the competitive beast within her more than awakened.

She downed her first shot in one swift gulp and grinned wolfishly at her challenger, "Bring it."

It could have been a trick of the light, but she swore his eyes flashed red before answering her challenge with the quick consumption of his shot.

The cold shot glass was in her hand the moment Sasuke set his first one down. She relished the warmth the liquid brought to her throat as she swallowed. The type of liquor didn't particularly matter, she found, she had a fondness for all of them. Of all the wonderful things Tsunade had taught her, this was probably the one bad habit she'd picked up one. Gambling did nothing for her, but drinking had the possibility of numbing some of her overwrought emotions.

It just took her a while to get to that point.

The fifth shot went down just as easily as the first, and Sasuke didn't hesitate to follow. So far he didn't seem to have any problems; he never winced or coughed, and he didn't even blanch at the strong odor it gave off. A lot of people did, but to Sakura the smell of hard alcohol usually reminded her of the antiseptics at the hospital.

"Hey, what's going on over here?" a familiar voice called from over her shoulder.

"Sakura challenged Sasuke to a drinking contest," Naruto explained as her sixth shot disappeared.

"What? No way."

"Shit, that wasn't the pla-I mean I didn't see that coming," another voice chimed in, sounding like an elbow to the gut had prompted her change of words.

"Karin, Ino, so kind of you to join us," Sakura drawled. Although her words were directed at her friends, she continued to face Sasuke. There was something about being the complete focus of Sasuke's attention that had her nerves thrumming in anticipation.

"We...got side-tracked," Karin defended. Sakura snorted, nearly inhibiting her seventh shot. She was sure they did; she could feel Suigetsu and Sai's chakra even though they had yet to speak up. The whole group had paired off, which explained Tenten's sad smile. Her heart panged momentarily for her ailing friend, but she couldn't find it in herself to be mad at Ino and Karin-obviously the masterminds of this situation-when her blood was boiling with competitive spirit. Plus, Sasuke had yet to take his eyes from her, and it was doing all sorts of wonderful things to her self-esteem.

"What are the terms of this bet?" Sai questioned, causing Sakura to hesitate.

"We never really decided, Sasuke, what do you think?" she asked before sucking down her eight shot, "A competition for bragging rights?"

Sasuke paused. The shot glass hovered off the bar, and he moved it slightly in his fingers as he thought. Eventually looked up from his drink to meet her stare, and Sakura swore that the temperature skyrocketed with his hooded gaze.

"Winner takes all."

A bolt of heat shot straight through her body and settled in her lower stomach at his choice of words. _Oh my. He couldn't really mean…?_

"Wait, what?" Naruto asked, obviously bewildered, "That wasn't specific, what does that mean? Does the loser have to pay the bill?"

"That too," he smirked. His adam's apple shifted in his throat as he downed his shot, drawing Sakura's eyes. Leave it to Sasuke to make taking a shot look sexy.

"Daaaaaaaaaaaaamn," Ino moaned, and Sakura could picture her friend fanning herself with her hand. Apparently, they were on the same page.

"Then I just won't lose," she taunted, taking her ninth shot. The tell-tale tingling was beginning in the pads of her fingers, and her peripherals weren't as clear as they used to be. She was tipsy. Even though the point of this competition was to outlast Sasuke, she still felt the thrill of excitement the realization brought her. With her alcohol tolerance, getting tipsy took quite a bit of work, and she didn't get to enjoy the feeling very often. The slow loss of control was slightly liberating.

_Did Sasuke feel anything yet?_ she wondered. Not many people could last this long, and ten shots was enough to knock most people-shinobi or not-flat on their asses. Sasuke wasn't showing any signs of intoxication so far.

Sakura downed her tenth shot and motioned to the bartender as she set down her final shot glass. She almost didn't turn back from the bartender in time to see it, and when she did her face split into a coquettish grin.

Sasuke's hand had slipped.

As he reached for his final shot, Sasuke had misjudged the distance between his hand and the glass. He bumped it slightly with the back of his knuckles, resulted in a tiny bit of the liquid splashing out of the glass and onto the bar.

It looks like Sasuke was well past tipsy, he was just good at hiding it.

"Damn, Boss, Pinkie's gonna drink you under the table!" Suigetsu jeered. Apparently Sakura wasn't the only one who saw the slip.

Sasuke snorted and moved to glare pointedly at his ex-teammate, but his motions weren't as fluid as they usually were, and he kept on hand steadily on the bar for balance. Sakura eyed him with a calculating gaze; this wouldn't take another 10 shots to finish.

"I'm going to finish this in five shots," she declared, speaking both to their friends as well as the bartender. He nodded and poured the required amount in both their glasses.

"That's all you got, Sakura?" Sasuke scoffed.

"Oh no. I got more than five shots left in me" she returned, "I just don't need the sharingan to see that you'll be out in five shots."

"Oooooooh," their friends breathed in unison, cackling at the end.

"You gonna take that, Sasuke?" Naruto hooted, despite Hinata's gentle shushing.

Predictably, Sasuke's eyes narrowed dangerously. Then, in an action fueled by his competitive spirit and the taunts of their friends, Sasuke turned to the bar and consecutively drained all five shots. He slammed the last empty shot down exaggeratedly, and wiped the excess liquid from his lips with the back of his hand.

"Beat _that,_ gorgeous."

There was a second of silence while everyone processed what had just happened. Then they broke into an exclamation of cheers, crass remarks, and "Attaboy Sasuke"'s.

Even though they were cheering for him, his gaze never left hers. She had to have heard wrong, did he just call her gorgeous.

Never one to back down from a challenge, Sakura kept her eyes on his as she took her shots. Unlike him, she didn't have to look at her glasses to grab them-and she didn't spill. The final shot disappeared down her throat with a smack of her lips, her pink tongue darting out to catch lingering traces of the vodka. Her stomach did flips when she caught Sasuke following the action.

Once again, their friends broke into laughter and cheers. This time it was Sasuke who summoned the bartender, who had also stayed near to watch their competition. Sakura held up her hand to stop both actions, and her friends quieted down.

She arched her eyebrow in a challenge at Sasuke.

"Now stand."

The ex-avenger looked at her like she'd lost her mind, but she just grinned in response and swung her legs out from under the bar. Her knees parted a little more than necessary to gain her balance, but the way his expression darkened was worth it.

On her feet the whirled swirled around her, but she kept upright, and even managed to prop one hand sassily on her hip, "Your turn."

She didn't know where this emboldened side of herself was coming from, she was acting like she was on a seduction mission, but if Sasuke's responses were anything to go by, she had to do this more often.

For a couple of seconds Sasuke didn't move. Then, in one sharp move, he pushed up from the barstool and onto his feet to stand before Sakura-before promptly pitching forward into her arms.

It seemed like the whole club broke into cheers; the pair had garnered quite the audience in their challenge. Despite the fact that all the noise, all the people pounding on her back, the loud whistles of her friends-despite the fact that it was all for her, Sakura's focus remained on the man now struggling to his feet.

She expected him to be angry, to sulk, to pout in the way that was purely Sasuke. But he didn't. Instead, he reached clumsily into his pockets unto he found what he was looking for and dropped several bills on the bar. It covered what they owed at least twice, if the numbers on the bills said what they thought she did, but Sasuke didn't seem particularly bothered. She supposed being the last Uchiha came with a decent sized inheritance.

When he finally turned from the bar, she almost melted on the spot. His eyes promised pleasure, and Sakura had no doubt that he could live up to it. She wanted to give in, wanted to let him act out what his expression communicated, but that annoying responsible part of her brain kept nudging at her. It kept reminding her that Sasuke was drunk-he didn't mean anything:none of the stares, glances, or exchanges. Hell, he had probably been drunk when he declared the terms of the bet steeped in innuendo.

All thoughts flew through the window, however, when Sasuke took two clear steps and smashed his lips against her. His lips were soft, but the kiss was not. Large hands had snuck around her waist and were now holding her forcefully against him as he attacked her mouth with lust filled kisses. She desperately tried to keep up with him, moving her lips just as passionately in response to his. When his tongue flicked against her lower lip, the scent of vodka filled her nose, kick-starting her brain back into action.

_Sasuke is drunk, he's drunk! He doesn't mean it! STOP!_

Although her brain was adamantly opposed, the tiny pricks of his teeth against her lips had her body screaming and enthusiastic, "YES!" It was just one night-it wouldn't hurt, right? It's not like she was expecting anything from him afterwards. And, really, how long had she been waiting for this?-nearly five years? She'd be crazy to give this chance up.

_But it was wrong._ Sakura sighed, pulling away from the kiss and reluctantly out of his arms. The latter was extremely difficult: it seemed Sasuke wasn't too keen on giving her up.

Once again the bar broke into applause, but this time there were a far amount of catcalls thrown in-mostly from their friends. She waited until everything calmed down before pulling Sasuke outside. Though they had been entertained, everyone at the bar went back to their own drinks. Even their friends ignored them in favor of their dates.

Once away from prying eyes, Sakura turned to face the man she'd been dragging behind her. He hadn't said a word since they'd broken their kiss, but his countenance hadn't lost a single drop of its desire.

_Be strong, Be strong,_she chanted, _get him sobered up before something happens that you'll regret._

"Here, Sasuke, let me help your liver out a bit," she offered, and stepped closer to him. Her heart rate sped up at their increased proximity, but Sasuke didn't move to grab her as she'd expected him to. Instead, he waited patiently as she splayed her palm on the lower right side of his chest. Even though their skin was separated by his shirt, she still felt a jolt of electricity pass through them. The way he jumped showed he did, too.

She continued to remove the alcohol from his system until he was hanging just below "buzzed"-definitely enough that he should regain control of his mind. Sakura's hand lingered on his chest, not wanting to lose contact but dreading the moment that they would break apart. Now that he was sober, it was over.

"That's what you get for challenging me to a drinking contest," she teased, finally dropping her hand and withdrawing a couple steps away from him and focusing on the dust the jumped into the air as she kicked at the ground.

"Duly noted," Sasuke intoned, his gravelly tone playing tricks on her stomach. She didn't dare look at his eyes, but she could hear the amusement in his voice, "But I'm pretty sure detoxifying your liver during a drinking contest is cheating."

Her spine straightened at the implication, "Oh I _so_ did not cheat! You lost fair and square, Uchiha." The arched eyebrow he gave her caused her eyes to narrow even more, but he broke off their staring contest with a baritone chuckle.

_Sasuke was laughing._ Sakura's mind spun. Was he still drunk? Did she miss something? She was still running over all of the possible explanations when his lips touched hers for the second time that night.

While the union contained all of the passion of its predecessor, it held none of the sloppiness. Every movement of Sasuke's lips felt controlled, and there was no falter in his steps as he maneuvered her against the wall. Sakura's moaned into the kiss and reached her hands up to thread through his hair, drawing a groan from the usually stoic man. His hands traveled from her waist to support his weight against the wall as he pressed into her more fully.

The pair was panting when they finally broke for air, resting their foreheads against one anothers as the world stopped spinning.

It took a couple of seconds for Sakura's eyes to unglaze and for her brain to begin firing again. Sasuke wasn't drunk, she was sure of that now, but what caused this?

"Winner takes all, right?" Sasuke mumbled in acknowledgement to the question written across her face, "Sounds like a win-win to me."

_He wanted this as much as she did-sober._ Joy bubbled up through her body, and she stood on her tip-toes to press a peck to his lips. He followed her lips back down and growled when she pushed his lips away with a finger.

"Well, then you better get us somewhere I can collect, huh?" she whispered around the finger separating them.

Sakura didn't think it was possible, but Sasuke's eyes darkened even more. Then she was swept up in his arms in one fluid motion, and they were bounding recklessly across Konoha's rooftops. Sasuke's desire to get her into his bed was made plenty clear by their pace and the soft curses that fell intermittently from his lips as she wriggled temptingly against him.

The cackle that left her lips was mischievous, and it sounded across the night sky as Sasuke spirited her away. Never, in all her years drinking with her Shishou did she think her high alcohol tolerance would earn her a night like this.

* * *

**Whoo, boy. That was a long one. Here I am struggling for five page chapters and then this 15 page oneshot just comes out of nowhere. Enjoy, all, and be sure to tell me what you think.**


	8. Day 8: The Student Becomes the Teacher

**Title: **Legendary Sanin on Deck!

**Summary: **Sakura claims her title as Sanin-successor-but does she get a student as well?

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Naruto. If I did, Sasuke wouldn't be such a giant bag of dicks right now.

**Prompt: **_The Student Becomes the Teacher _ from day eight of the SasuSakuMonth Prompts.

**Rating: **K

**Words:** 2,635

**Warning(s): **Language

**Author's Note: **I've always wanted to explore Sakura and Tsunade's relationship more. It's clear Tsunade is fond of her student, but I've never seen them step out of the "Student/Teacher" relationship like she and Shizune do.

* * *

Warmth bubbled up within her chest, and a tight ball of tension that Sakura hadn't known was in the pit of her stomach released. There was a warmth to her cheeks, but instead of the stinging warmth of embarrassment, it was pleasant. An accomplishment. Pride.

Sakura was dirty and sweaty and covered in bile and blood, but at the moment she felt like a million bucks. Not two hours earlier, an ANBU team had arrived to the hospital on stretchers, all clearly on death's door. Tsunade had been in a meeting with the elders-they weren't very accepting of the fact that they no longer held any political sway-and so Sakura had stepped up.

Despite the fact that the shinobi had been poisoned _with _an unknown method, Sakura had been able to save them by saturating a basic antidote with her chakra and feeding it to them. For some reason, channeling her chakra directly though their food had yielded a much better rate of survival, and every ANBU pulled through.

Sakura was helping wheel the patients into a room for overnight stay when Tsunade pulled her aside. Apparently, she had arrived to see the tail-end of the procedure, and was more than a little impressed. The legendary medic questioned her methods extensively ("Why did you do that?" "What made you use that technique?" "How did you think of that?"), before letting loose a low whistle and complementing her extensively.

That would have been enough to make her day, but it seems her sensei wasn't quite done yet. After Sakura had thanked her ("Well, I did learn from the best!"), Tsunade smiled and shook her head slowly before sighing in a still-can't-believe-what-you-just-did kind of way.

"I have nothing left to teach you, and the way you just dealt with this situation shows you're well on your way to surpassing me-if you haven't already," Tsunade said, the motherly smile displaying how deep their relationship ran, "From now on, we work as equals, and I'm placing you officially in charge of hospital as Chief Medic."

Sakura's mouth dropped open, and she blinked repeatedly in surprise,"Really, Shishou? Are you sure that I don't need more-"

"Oh hush," Tsunade waved her hand to dismiss Sakura's protests, "You deserve this. You've mastered Remote Healing, the Strength of a Hundred Seal, the Creation Rebirth technique, and the Strength of a Hundred technique. That's every powerful jutsu I have, and you've mastered them at sixteen."

A small grin tugged at the corner of her mouth, but Sakura found her eyes drawn to the hospital's white-tiled floor. She wasn't sure how to respond-which was unusual for her-so instead so chose not to.

Polished fingers grabbed the bottom of her chin and gently lifted up. Sakura was met with honey-colored eyes that shimmered with pride and a couple of unshed tears. It was obvious she was remembering their training together, and Sakura was transported back among her memories as well-had it really been four years?

Coming out of her revere, Sakura was shocked to find that Tsunade wasn't stooping to her level, and neither was she looking up to hers. They were truly equals.

"Congratulations," Tsunade finally spoke, releasing Sakura's chin and drawing a step back, "By surpassing me, you've become a Sanin. You've caught up."

This was the final straw that released the tears that had been threatening to spring forth for quite a while. Catching up to her team had been the point of all this-of every last drop of blood sweat and tears she had shed these past four years-and now she was there. Sakura had never told Tsunade about her secret second goal, second only to bringing Sasuke home, but it seemed that she never had to. Tsunade had always known.

Sakura sniffed and dashed away her tears only to catch sight of a couple tears escaping her Sensei's eyes. All at once, Sakura found she couldn't be formal anymore, and she swooped forward and developed Tsunade in a (nearly) bone-crushing hug.

The two had always been exceptionally close, but Sakura's deep respect for authority and Tsunade's unwillingness to form any additional deep bonds had kept the two from ever crossing the line drawn for interactions between student and teacher. Yet, although the embrace surprised Tsunade, it took only a second before she returned the hug just as fiercely.

"Thank you, Shishou," Sakura whispered, face pressed tightly to the Hokage's overwhelming bosom, "for everything. Thank you."

"Of course," Sakura felt more than heard Tsunade respond just above her ear. Then she pulled away, and Sakura stepped back to being an arm's length away. The last of the three previous Sanin was quickly swiping at her cheeks, as if to deny that she had been crying as well.

"Well, go tell the rest of your team!" she said, her voice maybe a bit too loud. She widened her stance, crossed her arms, and declared smugly, "I can't wait to see the look on that bastard's face when you tell him!"

The laugh that answered was instantaneous and gut-deep, rumbling out of Sakura's throat before she could stop. Imagining the dumbfounded expressions of Sasuke and Naruto shadowed by a gloating visage of her mentor was almost too much. Still slightly chuckling, Sakura snapped her hand to her head in a teasing salute, "Will do, chief!"

It was only after she had turned around and reached the end of the hallway that she heard her mentor call out.

"See you around, _Chief!_"

_x_

Sakura settled into the worn bar-stool at Ichiraku. Dusk was just beginning to descend, and the sounds of the village decreased as the citizens slowly made their way home. Of course, that didn't mean the entire village went to sleep as the sun set. Much of the shinobi population made their way out at night, meeting with friends to drink, train, and eat.

From her right came the slurping sounds of a ninja doing just that. Years may have granted Naruto a sense of maturity, but it had not graced him with table manners. Jiraya's student leaned with both elbows on the table, tipping the remnants of his bowl down his throat.

Sakura waited with mild amusement for him to resurface, savouring the warmth and flavor of her sweet miso ramen. Naruto set down his bowl and licked his lips just as Sakura swallowed the last of her bite. Not distracted anymore by the food in front of him, Naruto rested his head on one of his hands and turned his attention to her.

"So, why'd you call us here, Sakura?"

"Do I need a reason to ask for a team dinner, Naruto?" she teased from behind her glass of water.

"Of course not!" Naruto exclaimed, nearly jumping out of his seat, "Ramen's good at any time, for any meal!"

"The dobe would probably be here even if you hadn't suggested it," Sasuke spoke for the first time that night.

Sakura laughed at the scowl on Naruto's face, and decided to interrupt before their bickering escalating. She pushed her bowl back with both arms and leaned back with an exaggerated content sigh, drawing both boys' attention back to her.

"Naruto's right, actually," Sakura pretended not to see the smug look he shot Sasuke or the glare that was returned, "I do have something to tell you guys."

Blue eyes widened drastically, and Naruto's nostrils flared in alarm. She was so surprised by this reaction, that Sakura didn't think to keep going, and instead accidentally allowed Naruto to speak.

"Oh no, this is never good, you're pregnant, aren't you?!"

She jumped and she could feel Sasuke flinch beside her. Her jaw dropped open and she fished for the words to respond before closing it firmly and smacking Naruto upside the head.

"No, you idiot!" she nearly growled, eyes narrowed in anger, "Tsunade handed the hospital over me and formally granted me the title of Sanin!"

A couple of beats passed, and Sakura's shoulders dropped, "That wasn't how I wanted to tell you that."

It wasn't the response she'd wanted, either.

"Wow, Sakura-chan, really!? That's great!" Naruto seized her in an awkward side-hug from his stool, "I knew Granny was going to hand it over soon, but that's awesome!"

Sakura squeezed him quickly from within the hug before pulling back, her mood instantly restored. The only thing that would make this better would be if….

"Congratulations, Sakura," Sasuke said, and Sakura snapped her head to look at the raven-haired nin. He wasn't as exuberant as Naruto, but the upturned corner of his lips and the way he stared straight into her eyes showed that he was truly proud of her.

Tears began to prickle at the corner of Sakura's eyes again, and she had to take a deep breath to keep them at bay.

"ANYWAY, I know I'm not at your guys' level yet, but I wanted you to know that I've at least reached your playing field, and I'm going to keep working until I've really, truly caught up, no matter what it takes!" she finished, clenching her fist in the air.

"Hear hear!" Naruto pounded his empty glass before adopting a somber expression and crossing his arms, "But seriously, Sakura-chan, we all just have different strengths, that's all"-his eyes widened once more, and he waved his arms around excitedly- "That's it!"

Two pairs of upturned eyebrows greeted his exclamation.

"Now we can have Super-Sanin-Training Sessions, and use our summons, and make combined jutsus, and work on teamwork and stuff!" Naruto rambled enthusiastically, randomly pointing his chopsticks at the pair of them.

"We had to wait until Sakura was 'official' to do that?" Sasuke asked dryly.

The comment wasn't really a compliment, but Sakura felt fuzzy anyway. The urge to turn around and smile, or hug him, or _something_ was nearly overwhelming, and she had to fight hard not to give in.

"That's a great idea, Naruto, but I doubt Tsunade would take too kindly to us destroying all her training grounds with our summons," after seeing Naruto deflate, she hurried to add, "But there's something to working on our teamwork and combining jutsus, right Sasuke?"

Sakura and Naruto turned to stare at their third member, who met their gazes evenly. Sakura had nearly given up on him responding when Sasuke shrugged, "Team 10 shouldn't have the only famous combo jutsu."

"Yes!" Naruto whooped, leaping from his chair with an exuberant fist pump, "Training tomorrow! I will see you both there!"

With a final nod, Naruto tore off into the distance, leaving a bemused Sakura and Sasuke in his wake.

"He's so ridiculous most the time, I forget how grown up he actually is," Sakura mumbled, looking down to grab her purse from inside her pack.

"Hn," Sasuke agreed-or at least Sakura chose to think of it as agreement.

"Yeah. So! I guess I'll see you at-oh! Sasuke, you didn't have to pay for me!" Sakura had looked up from her purse to find the correct coins on the counter for her and Sasuke's meals.

"Hn," Sasuke shrugged, standing up, "Let's go."

"O-Okay!"

Sakura followed the Uchiha out of the ramen shop, only stopping to offer a quick good-bye to Teuchi and Ayami. Sasuke was waiting for her when she exited, and started to walk as soon as he saw her. Sakura quickly fell in-step with him, and the two walked in comfortable silence. They shared a common path to their houses from Ichiraku, and it had become a habit for them to walk it together.

As they walked, Sakura began to hum softly, genuinely pleased with the way her day had turned out. She was lost in her thoughts, relieving Sasuke and Naruto's reactions as well as the moment Sakura had granted her her title, but her feet moved steadily beside Sasuke. Her movements relied so much on instinct, she nearly didn't notice they were reaching the point where their paths split.

"So, now that you've surpassed your teacher, will you take on a student yourself?"

Sakura's humming cut-off abruptly at Sasuke's unexpected interruption of her thoughts. They usually didn't speak until the crossroads, and even if they did it was always her who initiated the conversation.

"Hm? Oh, no, probably not for a while," she finally answered, "There's still so much I want to accomplish, and I don't think it'd be all that wise to take on an apprentice so soon."

"Hn."

They traveled a couple hundred more yards without speaking, although Sakura wasn't humming any longer. Chatty Sasuke had caught her off guard, and Sakura felt herself observing Sasuke from the corner of her eyes. It was because she was watching him that she could sense he was about to stop, the tightening of his muscles giving him away.

Sure enough, Sasuke slowed to a halt with a sigh. Sakura stopped next to him, angling herself slightly so she was facing him. His hands were deep in his pockets, and his obsidian gaze was set on the stars.

"I meant, will you teach me medical ninjutsu?" Sasuke finally lowered his gaze from the sky to look unnervingly at her, awaiting her response.

"Me?" she squeaked, despite herself.

"Annoying," Sasuke rolled his eyes, "No, I meant the other medical Sanin."

Sakura blushed under his gaze. Well, there was Tsunade, but of course he had meant her. Sasuke had a hard time working with anyone not on Team 7, but the disbelief had just slipped out. The day she was on equal footing with her childhood crush had been a dray Sakura had dreamed about, but it never even occurred to her that Sasuke would ask her to teach him.

"It could be useful to have some medical ninjutsu up my sleeves when I go on solo-missions," Sasuke observed him carefully, unconsciously biting her lip in thought and twining her hands behind her back.

He seemed sincere enough, and the tenseness in his jaw and shoulders betrayed his nervousness for her response. That, and the fact that he had volunteered more information without her asking.

Why was she even hesitating?

"Of course, Sasuke-kun," Sakura smiled, stilling the nervous hands behind her back, "It would probably be best to try it when your chakra reserve is full, so let's plan for tomorrow night, okay?"

Sasuke nodded and abruptly turned to resume walking, but then turned around again to face her, a frown on his face.

"What?" Sakura asked. Was he reconsidering already?

"You'd do this for free, wouldn't you?"

His voice was disappointed and annoyed, and Sakura still wasn't sure what had prompted such negative emotions. Granted, negative emotions tended to be easy to come by as an Uchiha, but still, she thought everything was fine.

"Of course," she began slowly, unsure what words to avoid as to avoid triggering him further, "You're my teammate, Sasuke, I'd do anything for you."

Sasuke's frown deepened, and Sakura elbowed his side gently, trying to make him relax, "Come on, don't act like that surprises you."

"I don't deserve it," Sasuke declared softly, so softly she barely heard him. Unaware that she had caught his under-the-breath comment, Sasuke crossed his arms and lifted his head defiantly, "I'm making you dinner."

"Okay?"

"To pay for the training sessions," Sasuke clarified, as though attempting to shatter any romantic fantasies she may have (was definitely) entertaining, "What do you want?"

Despite Sasuke's stand-offish nature, Sakura's large, cheesey smile wasn't deterred. He didn't have to offer to make her dinner. He could just have easily offered to teach her a jutsu in return.

But, if Sasuke wanted to pretend this wasn't a date, then so be it. Her sappy smile turned into a mischievous grin as she thought of her first lesson with Tsunade.

"Let's have fish."

* * *

**I love the idea of Sakura teaching Sasuke medical ninjutsu.**

**The rest of these (8,9,10,11) I've had done forever, but I was waiting on 7. Here they are though! Enjoy! **


	9. Day 9: Bravery

**Title: **Marks of Courage

**Summary: **Sasuke realizes she's not the porcelain doll he thought she was.

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Naruto. If I did, Sasuke wouldn't be such a bag of dicks right now.

**Prompt: **_Bravery_ from day two of the SasuSakuMonth Prompts.

**Rating: **T

**Words:** 2,235

**Warning(s): **Nudity

* * *

Sakura fidgeted uncomfortably in the warm water. All she had wanted was to relax after their hellishly hard A-rank mission, but one person was making it impossible.

One Kami-cursed, tragically-handsome, brooding, _staring_ damn person.

She had tried relaxing with her eyes closed, but the weight of his watching obsidian eyes could be felt even from behind shut eyelids. Meeting his gaze didn't cause any reaction. Although Sasuke was definitely staring at her, it was almost like her was trying to stare into her. It wasn't like he was staring at anything inappropriate, either!

The pair of Konoha nin had just finished their A-rank mission together: retrieving a new poison. Tsunade had received reports of a gang on the outskirts of Konoha that were developing a lethal new poison. Sakura had been sent to get a sample, or even steal all of the poison safely so that Konoha could prepare an antidote, and Sasuke had been sent as the muscle to back her up. Although Sakura had pointed out she had plenty of muscle all on her own, she was the first to admit that having a teammate to rely on was always a bonus.

Too bad the mission had turned out to be a total bust.

Locating the gang's hideout had been easy-as if the ten guards lining the house didn't scream "illegal activities here!"-as had been confiscating the poison. However Sakura had barely scooped up the noxious purple liquid when she recognized some of her own signatures. The poison turned out to be a replica of one of her original poisons with only a few changes. Simple to deal with and not worth the hype at all.

Getting out had turned out to be a problem, and in the resulting battle Sasuke and Sakura had leveled the whole mansion. Admittedly, the leveling was mostly Sakura's fault, but in all reality it had been the best way to eliminate the massive amounts of guards that had swarmed once the alarm was triggered. The resulting debris had been more than a little detrimental to their escape, as Sasuke had had his leg broken by a flying chunk of wall. As Sakura tended to his snapped tibia, the ceiling had fallen through missing the pair by a hair's breath.

Or a shirt's breadth, more accurately. Years of experience dodging had allowed Sakura to push Sasuke and herself out of the way of major harm, but the whole back of Sakura's shirt had been removed-leaving Sakura making a very unique fashion statement.

So basically, Sasuke and Sakura were grimy, sweaty, and annoyed when they miraculously stumbled across a Hot Spring. The fact that it was a co-ed bath caused Sakura to hesitate for a moment, but the feeling of her sticky clothes has soon persuaded her otherwise.

While Sakura had accepted an invitation to a co-ed bath, she hadn't accepted being completely bare in the same water as the Uchiha-not that she didn't trust him. Sadly, even if she sat on him naked Sakura doubted she'd get a reaction out of the stoic nin. It was just that Sakura was scared of _not_ getting a reaction; it would be almost too much to handle if her body was met just as indifferently as her existence had been by the man she loved. Instead, she had opted to cover her body with a towel in the water.

_So what was he looking at?!_

Finally, Sakura's tense muscles couldn't take it anymore.

"What?" she snapped, drawing her arms tighter into her chest and her legs closer to her torso, "What are you looking at? I doubt I have food in my face."

Sasuke blinked, slowly focusing on her face rather than...wherever the hell he . He could have almost been looking straight through her if it wasn't for his intense stare. When his eyes flickered from one side of her face to the other Sakura knew Sasuke had finally returned to reality.

"You have blood in your hair, actually."

Sakura rolled her eyes so hard her head rolled, "I'm calling bullshit, Sasuke. I'm covered in blood all day every day, and that doesn't warrant 30 minutes of undivided attention.

The corners of his lips tugged upwards in a small smirk, and his eyes sparkled with mirth-Sasuke's equivalent of a laugh.

"What, can't take the heat Sa-ku-ra?" he drawled teasingly.

Sakura ignored the shiver that ran through her body at his husky tone, and opted for an indignant hair flip instead, "Psh! As if, Uchiha. I've long since grown immune to your charms."

Bull. They both knew it, but she thanked Sasuke for not calling her on it.

"Hn."

It was only one syllable, but Sasuke drew it out so that she could practically hear the meaning behind it: Oh, I'm sure.

With Sasuke's gaze now focused elsewhere, and their banter easing the tension, the atmosphere relaxed. Slowly, her tense shoulder relaxed, and Sakura unfurled her body from its fetal position to spread languidly in the water. Her head rested on the edge of the pool, and the trickle of a far off waterfall and night time crickets were the only sounds.

The pads of her fingers began to wrinkle, and Sakura took this as her cue to start actively stretching the ache out of her muscles. She rolled her head in slow circles and lazily brought her hands to her shoulders, water dripping from her fingertips. The light pressure worked wonders on the relieving the tension that had accumulated from smashing through an entire fortress-all to confiscate a poison that had ended up being based on one of her own.

"Where did you get it?"

Sakura jumped, having forgotten Sasuke was there, and nearly losing her towel in the process. Only a very quick snag on her part saved her remaining dignity. Hand pressed tightly to her chest, fist clenching her towel, Sakura shot an annoyed look at her teammate.

"Get _what_?" she asked, flinging her hand upward in frustration, "Sasuke-kun, how the fuck am I supposed to know what you're talking about right now. I literally have nothing on me but this towel right now. Where did I get the towel?"

"Annoying," Sasuke sighed, crossing his arms and sinking lower into the water, "Where did you get that scar?"

"Oh," Sakura looked at all her exposed skin, gaze lingering on the small marks lining her chest and arms. Locating the largest one across her pectoral and right beneath her collarbone, she pointed to it before looking back at Sasuke, "this one?"

"No, the sizeable one on your back."

"Oh."

Sakura knew there were only two he could be talking about, both from times she had been impaled. She had never told anyone how she had been skewered by Sasori's blade; Chiyo and Sasori, the only witnesses, both died afterwards, and there didn't seem to ever be a need to share; what was a sword wound when Gaara had almost lost his life and Chiyo had?

Sakura lowered her gaze and feigned interest in rubbing the dirt off her arms, "It was from when someone tried to turn me into a kabob."

Her lighthearted tone did not soften the blow as much as she had hoped, and she heard Sasuke suck in a sharp breath.

"Madara."

"Could be," she responded casually, propping her calf up on her knee and massaging it, "Depends on which one you're talking about."

The sputtering cough that answered her caught her off-guard enough to look up, despite how much she wanted not to look at him at the moment. Because she did she could see the way his eyes widened in surprise before narrowing in anger.

"How many times have you been impaled?" he asked through clenched teeth.

She flinched but refused to drop her gaze. Sighing in defeat Sakura retracted from her hunched position over her leg and leaned back against the wall of the bath, arms resting out of the water on the ledge.

"Only twice," she replied evenly. As much as she did not want to talk about it-how much it had hurt, how scared she had been, how weak she had felt afterwards-it looked like there was no avoiding it. Sasuke rarely initiated conversations, and when he did he could be fairly persistent.

"Who..," he snarled, eyes flashing red momentarily, "Where the hell was Naruto?"

_Where the hell was __**Naruto**__? _Sakura had just told him, the only person ever, that she had been impaled twice and he wanted to know where Naruto was? She knew Sasuke was bad with emotions, and emotional conversations, truly, she had picked that up.

But here she was, opening up, and Sasuke didn't bother to ask how she got it, or how it felt, or even if she had killed the person who did it. He just went and asked where Naruto was, further insinuating that he thought she was useless.

"Well, he was a little busy with Deidara," she spat, drawing in her arms towards her chest again, "I'm a ninja too, you know. Full fledged kunoichi right here-not some porcelain burden."

"Deidara? Whe-" Sasuke sucked in a breath though his breath, and pinched the bridge of his nose, "Sasori. You got that fighting Sasori."

"Yes," she hissed, wanting to make him feel guilty, "So sorry I was weak enough to be wounded by an Akatsuki member. Who I _took down_."

"Well you shouldn't have taken him on in the first place!" Sasuke attacked back, "Damn it, Sakura, you were no where near Sasori's level, which is damn apparent from the way you got stabbed. What, all that medic training not good enough to dodge Sasori?"

"I took that blade on purpose you prick!" Sakura's fists clenched, itching to clobber him, "And so sorry I got injured in my first major fight-against an Akatsuki member!"

"You took it on-what the hell were you thinking!"

"I was thinking the only way we were going to win, and find out more information on you, was if I took the hit to give Chiyo some more time!"

Both she and Sasuke were leaning aggressively towards the other. Sasuke's lips were drawn in a frozen sneer and Sakura could feel her cheeks flushed with anger. The stare off continued with narrowed eyes, pursed lips, and tight fists before Sasuke sank back with an exasperated sigh.

"I can't decide if you're incredibly stupid, or incredibly brave," he declared, rubbing his temples.

Taken aback, Sakura allowed herself to recline back as well, still frowning. It felt like the argument was over, but she was still hurt and felt a little defensive. Unsure about this twist in the conversation, Sakura decided not to say anything.

"You take on tailed beasts with nothing but a kunai, fight ninjas above your pay-grade," he began to tick them off his fingers at Sakura's sound of protest, "those sound-nin at the chunin exam, Sasori, Madara, freaking Kaguya. Damn it. You're constantly using your body as a shield."

Some of Sakura's anger started to dissipate. Despite his aggressive choice of words, Sasuke's tone was more worried than truly annoyed or disappointed.

"I hate it," he admitted, bushing and averting his gaze, "I hate it when you get hurt-when there's nothing I can do."

Sakura said nothing, emerald eyes wide as she listened silently.

"But I'm a little impressed, too. No matter how hopelessly outmatched you are, if you think you can protect your friends, you don't hesitate. Your body…"

"Just reacts," they finished in unison.

Sakura smiled sadly, all traces of her previous rage gone.

"I think we both know how that is, don't we?" she asked, referring to the numerous times he'd pulled her out of the fire, so to speak. On their first mission, in the chunin exams, against the giant close, against Madara, against Kaguya that final time…

"...yeah."

With the argument over, Sakura felt she had spent quite enough time in the water. She stood up awkwardly keeping the towel against her body. When she turned to step out, however, the towel slipped from her grip and displayed her back and a good portion (okay, all of it) of her ass.

Before she could die of embarrassment, she felt another towel draped across her shoulders and she quickly wrapped it around her body, the other towel dropping to her feet. Kicking it towards a pile of abandoned towels, she turned to find Sasuke staring at the part of the towel that covered her scars.

Instead of continuing to stare, like he did previously, Sasuke quickly met her eyes and nodded, walking forward. He was completely naked, much like he had been in the pool the whole time, but now Sakura was very aware that he had given her the towel he'd planned to dry off with.

Muscles in his toned legs visibly flexed as he walked in front of her, drawing her traitorous eyes to his tight ass. Looking upward wasn't much better for the fire burning in her stomach, although Sasuke's rippling, dripping trapezium were a much more neutral zone than his gluts.

Sasuke snatched a dry towel from a shelf near the wall and turned around just in time to see Sakura's eyes stubbornly glued to his shoulder blades. He smirked, all too knowingly, and Sakura nearly missed his parting words.

"You're pretty brave, Sakura. For a fangirl."

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**I really do like how this one turned out, and I love the idea of a scarred Sakura-makes her seem more badass. Review, pretty pretty please?**


	10. Day 10: Impulsive

**Title: **Sasuke Say Wha?

**Summary: **When Sasuke's mouth runs away with him, neither are sure how to act.

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Naruto. If I did, Sasuke wouldn't be such a giant bag of dicks right now.

**Prompt: **_Impulsive _ from day eight of the SasuSakuMonth Prompts.

**Rating: **T

**Words:** 1,649

**Warning(s): **Fluff

**Author's Note: **Wow. Not sure how I feel about this, first time I've written in Sasuke's perspective. Maybe a bit OOC.

* * *

When the words "impulsive" and "Team 7" were combined in a sentence, often times the image of a wildly grinning, blond-haired boy in an orange jumpsuit was conjured. Naruto was the epitome of impulsive, always jumping out into danger, making rash judgments, and generally refusing to filter his thoughts. While Team 7's only kunoichi could be considered impulsive in her quick abuse of Naruto, generally her intelligence, forethought, and strategic plans overshadowed this characteristic.

But if there was something all citizens and shinobi alike were sure of, it was that Sasuke Uchiha was not impulsive. Sure, he had gone "dark side" when he was twelve by abandoning Konoha and hooking up with the renegade Sanin, Orochimaru—but really, had that been unexpected? When Sasuke went on to kill the Snake-Sanin, some were surprised, but most laughed. As if Sasuke was really going to give up his body and quest for vengeance (really, Orochimaru should have seen it coming).

Then there was the time rumors hit that Sasuke had joined the Akatsuki; that had been a little unexpected.

Why would the last remaining Uchiha abandon his village (figuratively, speaking) after successfully committing fratricide? Of course, then the whole world had played the game of "He's the Last Uchiha/He's the Last Uchiha Not" as the rollercoaster of information collected during the war hit. When Obito Uchiha was brought back home (definitively assuring the people that Sasuke was NOT the last Uchiha), and the truth of the Uchiha Massacre was brought to light, everyone decided that maybe joining the Akatsuki hadn't been such an impulsive decision after all.

Wrong and misguided, but not impulsive.

Which is exactly why Sasuke Uchiha had no idea what he was doing now.

Team 7 had just christened Uchiha manor with its first "family dinner" after several long days of restoring it to a livable condition. After a couple hours of kitchen mishaps, good-natured bickering, and good food, Kakashi, Naruto, and Sai had finally taken their leave.

At first he had been a little relieved that he could finally be alone, but then Sasuke had noticed that mountain of dishes that had accumulated in the sink and the disaster zone that he had once called a kitchen. Noticing the direction of his distressed gaze, Sakura had laughed and headed to the sink before pulling on some yellow gloves from a drawer beside the it.

"Leave these dishes to me," she had commanded while pulling the rubber gloves on with a dull _thwack_, "You take care of that kitchen."

_x_

When Sasuke finally wiped up the last spot of food off the side of his oven, he leaned back on his heels with a sigh. If Team 7 made this much of a mess for every team dinner, he was never hosting again. Unhurriedly, he stood up, working the kinks out of his spine as he went.

A soft melody drew his eyes to the sink. Sakura was finishing up the last of the dishes, rinsing suds off plates as she rocked in time to a song only she could hear. A couple minutes into their cleaning session, she had begun singing what seemed to be old nursery rhymes, instantly transporting him to when his mother was alive.

Mikoto was a firm believer in singing to make the time pass. She sang when he was scared, sick, or lonely, but most of all, Mikoto had always sung when doing chores.

She would have loved Sakura.

Now, Sasuke was drawn to the presence of Sakura in his kitchen. Drawn to the way her songs filled the silence and her bubbly personality filled the brooding halls. Drawn to the idea of having someone to come home to again. Drawn to the idea of giving in to their impending relationship.

Oblivious to Sasuke's watchful eye, Sakura finished the last dish with a flourish of her rag and a crescendo to her hum. The corner of Sasuke's mouth quirked affectionately at her antics, and it was then that he was struck by how right it seemed to have her at home in his kitchen.

The pink-haired kunoichi spun around quickly, making the skirt she was wearing flare about her legs. She eyed Sasuke's work and nodded decisively.

"I knew we would make a dynamic-kitchen-cleaning-duo!" she winked, removing the gloves from her hands.

"Move in with me."

_Wait, what?_

Now, here they were. Only one of Sakura's gloves were on, and she had frozen in the process of removing the other one, her mouth wide open in astonishment. Sasuke himself could feel how his face had frozen in surprise, his eyebrows high on his head, jaw tensed as if to cage to words he had set free just a minute ago.

_Why the fuck did I just say that?_ Sasuke screamed internally, masking his panic with a bland expression. He had just been released from his probationary sentence one short week ago.

Granted, during his six-month sentence, he and his old team had tentatively reforged some of their old bonds, but it was slow work. At least it was for him and Sakura. He had left when their relationship was on such uncertain terms, hints of burning affection tempered with cool indifference. While Naruto had accepted him all at once, he and Sakura painstakingly built their fresh bond together piece by piece.

_And you just had to go and ask her to move in with you._

"You don't have to," Sasuke backtracked, when the silence had stretched long enough and his mouth had caught up with his brain, "It just came out. Forget I said anything."

Sakura blinked at him, closing her mouth and adopting a contemplative look.

"Did you mean it?"

Did he mean it? Did he mean that he would like for Sakura to have a place in his life? Did he mean that he enjoyed her presence? Did he mean that he could see a future with this annoying woman? Did he mean he wanted to be a real part of Konoha?

_Yes_, he thought. He just hadn't meant to say it.

The word "no" was frozen on his lips, and he pulled them in and released them with a forceful puff of air. His first instinct had been to lie, but that went against the foundation of this new relationship of theirs: no lying, no hiding, no pushing. Slowly, he nodded his head.

"Yeah," he responded quietly, anxiously shoving his hands in his pockets and eyes firmly on the window just above her head, "I did."

Sakura sucked in a sharp breath, and he could picture the way her nostrils would flare in shock, the way her mouth would be forming that "Oh!" of surprise. She would be too polite to say no, he realized with horror. She would say yes, and it would be too early, and she would resent him, and everything they'd worked so hard to build would fall apart.

"I meant it," he said, swiftly bringing his eyes to hers, "But I didn't have to mean it _yet._"

Sakura nodded, seemingly contemplating this, "Why did you ask me?"

"Because it feels like you belong here," he responded, mentally smacking himself for how cheesey he sounded.

At this, Sakura's face lit up, and a broad smile broke out across her face. She leaned back casually against the counter, "Then why not?"

Why not? Because, because they hadn't thought about it yet. They hadn't talked about it, they hadn't even dated yet, for God's sake.

"We're too young," Sasuke's fumbled, floundering for reason they couldn't though he wanted to so badly.

This didn't seem to faze Sakura. The pink haired kunoichi shrugged, "We're eighteen, and we just won a war. Besides, I've already moved out from my parents' house"-sensing Sasuke's unease Sakura cocked her head and continued on slowly, as if not to scare him- "Our relationship has always been a bit unconventional, Sasuke. I don't see why this has to be any different."

"But-"

Sakura moved forward and placed her finger on top of his lips. Of course he could continue talking around the finger, but it was more the forwardness of Sakura's action that shocked him into silence.

"Let's just give it a try," her voice wasn't breathy, but it was barely more than a whisper, low in her throat, "Talking has never been our strong point, so let's just give this a shot, okay?"

Her hand left his mouth slowly, but the distance between them was nearly nonexistent. If he leaned down, they would be kissing. Sasuke swallowed thickly, anxiety creeping through his body. The air was thick with so many kinds of tension he could barely breath, but Sakura didn't seem to have any trouble, patiently waiting for his answer.

_No pushing._

He could still back out. There was still time for him to withdraw, and for them to go back to the way things were before his traitorous mouth had ruined it all. But did he really want to?

_No._

Sasuke sighed. He was being incredibly selfish by allowing his desire to outweigh the consequences. He knew he was being selfish, he was always selfish, but if Sakura was willing to go through with this, he was ready to disregard the consequences.

"Okay," he responded, moving in closer to rest his head on hers. From this angle, if he looked down he could make out her emerald eyes and smiling lips from underneath his eyelashes, "Move in with me."

Small hands wound around his waist and Sakura tipped her head up, making their noses brush each other delicately, gently. The house was still, silent, and Sasuke felt his heart speed up. Deliberately, Sakura drew closer until only a sliver of air separated them.

"Okay," she answered, lips brushing against his as she formed the word.

When their lips met, Sasuke decided that maybe being impulsive wasn't so bad after all.

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**Kind of a follow up to "Painting A Fresh Start" as my friend Cumberwho-and-Johnlock pointed out. Hm. Might have to do something about that. As always, I really, really would love some reviews.**


	11. Day 11: A Night Without Stars

**Title: **Starless

**Summary: **Sasuke's nights are permanently starless.

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Naruto, because if I did, Sasuke wouldn't be such a bag of dicks right now.

**Prompt: **_A Night with No Stars _from day eleven of the SasuSakuMonth Prompts.

**Rating: **T

**Words:** 1,608

**Warning(s): **Character death

**Author's Note: **….I apologize for the rude level.

* * *

Cold from the ground slowly seeps into Sasuke's clothes as he lays back upon the grass, idly gazing at the sky. He doesn't come outside every night, but the nights he does Naruto isn't far behind. He's never been far behind.

Unlike most of their interactions, their time laying in the fields of Training Ground 3 are peaceful—sacred almost. Both men are content to simply observe the stars, and quietly take comfort in each other's presence. The scars of war run deep, and the men acknowledge that some wounds can only be soother by reflection and time.

It's time like these Sasuke wonders. Wonders what would have happened if Minato had killed Obito before he had pulled the kyubi from Kushina. Wonders what life would have been like if his father hadn't planned a coup. Wonders how the Uchiha became the puppets of vengeful gods. Wonders why he bothers to stay in a village that was so quick to eliminate his family.

Tonight, though, Sasuke wonders how he hadn't seen it before. How hadn't he seen it before, when the parallels between he and Naruto to the moon and sun were so obvious?

Only a mild sense of surprise filled him after he removed his hand from the Sage of Six Path's staff to reveal a crescent moon. A ninja thrived in the darkness, and no ninja clan could claim to be more elite than the esteemed Uchiha clan. It only made sense that Sasuke was a child of the night as well.

His affinity for the moon only became clearer when compared to Naruto's burning sun of a personality.

With his light blond hair, beaming blue eyes, and affection for neon orange clothes, Naruto was the brightest person Sasuke knew. The kyubi container showed had no problem with drawing attention to himself, and he did it without hesitation. Much like the sun, Naruto lived to be seen and to inspire.

Sasuke had always dwelled better in obscurity. While Naruto trained in the sun with the support of his friends, Sasuke turned his back on society to train alone well away from the reach of the sun.

Naruto's purpose in life had always been to care for others: to inspire them, to draw them together, to create a world of peace. Sasuke's role as an avenger drove him to the darkness; his quest for vengeance was single-minded, and it drove his lonely existence.

They were both powerful in their own right, but they ruled completely different realms.

Really, it had been so obvious, but Sasuke was content to share the stage with Naruto—never once guessing there might be a third player waiting in the wings.

He had forgotten Sakura.

Whenever Team 7 came to mind, of course he remembered his pink-haired teammate, with her brilliant smile and gentle personality. Of course he remembered the only girl he had ever cared for. Of course he had remembered the girl he fought to protect, the girl he would throw away his life (and thus his pursuit of vengeance) away for without hesitation.

Of course he remembered.

What Sasuke forgot was not Sakura's existence, but her importance. He only ever saw flashes of her brilliance—rumors of her killing Sasori and a brief witness to her superhuman strength. Only flashes compared to Naruto's permanent brilliance and his enduring skill.

If Sasuke was the moon, and Naruto was the sun, then what was Sakura?

Sakura was the tie between them. The girl who reminded day and night that they weren't so different from eachother. The girl with a foot in both realms.

But Sakura had always favored the night.

In a world where he was the moon, and Naruto was the sun, Sakura was a shooting star.

With her bright pink hair and easy smile, Sakura was as much a creature of the day as Naruto. When Sasuke heard that his female teammate had chosen the path of a healer, he remembered briefly thinking that position suited her. Her gentle hands were meant to heal people, not hurt them as other ninjas did. The determination he knew coursed through her had always been aimed to protect. The woman knew no fear when her loved ones were in danger as she had proved time and time again.

Chunin exams. Gaara's attack. The hospital roof. Sakura's intentions had always been pure, and so Sasuke had left her in Konoha to play in the light.

But Sakura belonged to the night as much as she did the day, and she proved that she understood the darker side of the ninja life as well.

Forever optimistic, Naruto refused to believe that there were some people that were better off dead. He didn't see a situation that couldn't be talked out of. There wasn't a soul who couldn't be his ally.

While Sakura stood on the higher moral ground, she also saw the necessity for dirty work. Sakura knew when to lie. Bloodied hands weren't always the result of saving lives, and, as Sakura had proved with Sasori, sometimes her hands were red because of ending them.

Yes, Sakura was a gentle spirit who grew strong in the open, under the sun, but that didn't mean she didn't understand the rules of the night.

It was after his attempt to kill her that Sasuke formed his theory that Sakura was a shooting star. Even as he cackled madly and felt the adrenaline pump through his veins, seeing Sakura tempted him to come home.

She had always been his guide in the darkness, ever since they were genin. When Orochimaru's seal consumed him with hatred, it had been Sakura's hug that drew him back to reality. As his hand sung with the screams of a thousand birds ready to strike his friend, Sakura's cry caused him to second guess himself—even if the warning had come too late. During his steps toward the gate, it was Sakura's presence that made him more inclined to stay.

Even after his betrayal of Konoha, the pink-haired woman drew him home. The sight of a Sakura tree was enough to remind him of Konoha despite his attempt to forget it. He only had to catch a small whiff of jasmine tea to be transported back to memories of Team 7 keeping warm around the campfire during missions. Apples were known to send Sasuke spiraling into a fit of rage, because they never failed to prod the memory of the girl, and the family, he'd left behind.

Sakura was meant to bring the brilliance of Naruto's day to his night. She was meant to guide him in his eternal darkness. She was their shooting star.

Sasuke never considered that shooting stars were meant to fade.

While the sun and moon were permanent and everlasting, the lifespan of a shooting star was brilliant and short—flaring magnificently overhead before fading off into eternity. _Why,_ Sasuke cursed, fisting the grass and ripping it angrily from the ground, _why did I did I never consider that Sakura's role as a shooting star meant her life would end?_

True to her nature, Sakura's life had ended protecting her boys. She had fought valiantly, joining her teammates on the battlefield to eliminate the reason for the war and the massacre of his clan. Chunks of earth flew with her attacks, and injuries disappeared from their bodies as soon as they appeared. She endured fatal injuries without batting an eye and never failed to turn her injuries to her advantage as she lashed out at Kaguya in close range.

It was in the final charge that Sakura had lost her life.

Kaguya was on her last legs, and everyone knew it. He and Naruto had been closing in to seal the spiteful mother when she used the last of her life to once again summon the lava dimension. The change had been so quick, so sudden that both he and Naruto scrambled to avoid the lava now beneath their feet in mid-leap. It was inevitable, and Sasuke would never forget the ice that had formed in his stomach as he faced his death.

Suddenly, there was ground beneath their feet. Hot, steaming ground, but solid ground nonetheless. He had never questioned where it came from until it was over—until after he and Naruto had used the unexpected earth appeared to take the last step forward and seal Kaguya.

The alien mother's screams were only beginning to fade when his whole body went tense, searching for a flickering chakra source very near its end.

Naruto saw her at the same time he did, lava consuming her body. She was gone a second after they pulled her out, only lasting long enough to twist her charred flesh into a smile before she faded out.

They realized afterwards that it was Sakura that had created the ground for them to stand on. Sakura who had launched herself into the molten floor so that she could channel enough of her chakra into the burning rock beneath it to rise above churning lava.

The world seemed a little duller the moment Sakura flickered out of it. Sasuke had since returned to the village with Naruto, but he could help but feel he was viewing life with heavily tinted glasses, separated from the bright happiness that guided others.

Even at night, even with Naruto by his side, Sasuke couldn't seem to see that stars that supposedly peppered the night sky. Laying in the grass, Sasuke only saw the rolling black abyss that was the night sky, despite others' assurances that the constellations still glowed.

Without Sakura, Sasuke's nights would always be starless.

* * *

**For its short amount of words, I feel like the rude level on this one is pretty high (*cough*not as high as 25 *cough*), but I still really like this.**

**I would like it even better if you all told me what you think!**


	12. Day 12: Silver Lining

**Title: **Silver-lined Matriarch

**Summary: **Sasuke muses that Sakura might be the only thing the Uchiha clan ever did right.

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Naruto. If I did, there would be _no goddamn revolution_.

**Prompt: **_Silver Lining_ from day twelve of the SasuSakuMonth Prompts.

**Rating: **T

**Words: **1,573

**Warning(s):** Implied sex

**Author's Note(s):** I went for it. I'm sorry. I tried to think of something better than "Sakura's Sasuke's silver lining," but it just kind of wrote itself. I know it's short.

* * *

"Sasuke-kun? What are you doing out here?" a sweet voice asked in the still silence of the night.

Slowly, Sasuke shifted his gaze from the starless night to the face of his new wife. Wrapped only in his shirt, she slumped heavily against the doorframe of their patio. Her petal colored hair was in disarray from their earlier activities, and her eyelids were heavy with sleep, but concern still shone in her eyes. The sight sent a warmth he had only just allowed himself to experience swimming through his chest, and he opened one arm, silently asking her to come join him. Even though there was a slight chill in the spring air, Sakura didn't hesitate to come nestle into his side.

A herbal scent floated to his nose as Sakura pulled her knees to her chest and laid her head contently on his shoulder. This, this was the piece he had always been missing. Sasuke slid his fingertips down her exposed arm before settling on her hip, barely covered by his shirt. The fearsome kunoichi purred at the soothing circles he rubbed into her skin, and he smiled at the sound, dropping a lingering kiss to the top of her head.

_What did I ever do to deserve this woman?_ The errant thought brought him back to his reason for being out here in the first place, and he smothered a sigh. Truly, this wonderful woman had no place tying herself to a monster like him.

He had put her through hell, and he acknowledged that. There was no excuse for the times he had walked away from her, the callous words he tossed at her to drive her away, or the time he had actually aimed to _kill_ her—he closed his eyes suddenly, forcing back the feeling emptiness that threatened to consume him at the idea of a world without her bright, selfless existence. Sakura stirred against his chest, somehow sensing his unease, but Sasuke squeezed her gently to reassure her he was fine.

Sasuke knew he was no prize, but for some reason Sakura wanted him anyway. She had waited years for him. She had taken abuse from and for him. She had defended him without a thought and came to his side without hesitation. She declared her love for him even in the face of rejection—not once, but twice.

For years he had side-stepped her affections and tried to get her to hate him. He was cruel and blood-stained and cursed and why couldn't she see that? Why couldn't she see he was trying to protect her? Why did she make it so hard to deny her? Why did she have to love him so fully?

In the end, and after several confrontations from Naruto, Sasuke had finally given in. As the Dobe put it, even if she deserved better, she wanted him—and didn't she at least deserve to be happy?

It was incredibly selfish of him, because he gained so much more by being with Sakura than he could ever offer her, but Sasuke finally pulled down his walls. Just for her. For her, he would try to be man she deserved and not the Uchiha he was described as.

And that was the other half of the problem.

Even if he could come to terms with the decisions he'd made, and even if did become worthy of being Sakura's husband, he had generations of bad decisions laid upon his shoulders. "Uchiha" was a name that brought with it fear and disgust, and Sasuke couldn't bring himself to disagree with those who held such opinions.

When had the Uchiha, in all their history, ever made a good decision?

Madara, the co-founder of this village, turned on his best friend and spent the duration of his life plotting Konoha's downfall. Even as the Chief of Police, Sasuke's own father had planned to overturn the village in a bloody revolution. Obito had unleashed the kyuubi on Konoha, resulting in the death of Naruto's parents. Itachi, though it pained Sasuke to admit it, was still responsible for massacring the Uchiha clan. On top of that, Itachi had lied to him for the majority of his life, even if it had been out of the urge to protect him.

That was the root of it, wasn't it?

Just as Hagoromo said, the weakness of the Uchiha was that they loved too deeply. It didn't matter that their actions were driven from instincts of love, they still seemed to wreak chaos and bloodshed wherever they turned.

As far as history was concerned, the Uchiha could make no right decisions.

And then there was Sakura—selfless, loving Sakura.

Sakura's love wasn't a source of weakness, even though he used to think it was. From the time of their genin days, Sakura's had been a source of her strength. It drove her to face foes far out of her skill level without flinching. The work she carried out as a medic was the perfect example of the type of love Sakura's heart held: giving and selfless. Sakura refused to give up on any patient, even if it put her wellbeing at risk. Her loyal defense of her friends was unwavering and resolute. Darkness and hatred and hardships and insults found no holes in her caring armor.

When he took a second to think about it, marrying Sakura was probably the best decision he—the Uchiha, really—had ever made. Uchiha Sakura was the silver lining to the dark and pain filled cloud the consisted of the Uchiha existence.

He nuzzled her soft hair affectionately, taking comfort in the sound of her steady breathing next to him. The combination of his caresses, their long day, and the peaceful night seemed to have drawn her to sleep. She didn't snore, but he could feel a slight dampness on his arm from where she was beginning to drool. Smiling against her head and concealing a chuckle, Sasuke hooked his arm under her knees and stood, cradling her against his chest.

"Hmmm, where're we goin'?" she slurred sleepily. When he glanced down at her, Sasuke could see that she hadn't even attempted to open her eyes and instead had nestled comfortably against the bare skin of his chest.

"To bed," he answered as he set her down lightly on their shared—_shared_—mattress. Sakura had left the covers upturned when she left earlier, so it was easy to tuck the silk sheets and Uchiha quilt around her dreaming form.

He thought she was gone the moment her head hit the pillow, but as soon as he had settled into the sheets, Sakura snuggled against him once more. Surprised, but not unpleasantly so, Sasuke wrapped his arm around her so she could use it as a pillow.

"Thanks," she murmured, encircling his torso with her free arm, "Love you."

Sasuke didn't respond verbally, but ran his hand affectionately up and down her back. Now that his mind was more serene and he was lying down, sleep began to pull his eyelids downwards as well. He couldn't think of anything more peaceful than this: settling down for the night in the mutual bed with his most precious person.

"Mm, Sasuke-kun?" Sakura's half-muffled voice pulled him back from unconsciousness. She only continued when Sasuke made a noise that suggested she should, "Why were you outside, anyway?"

"Hmmm, just thinking," Sasuke replied, his voice rumbling from deep within his throat.

"Hm," Sakura answered, seemingly content with his response.

Sleep was just around the corner, but there was one more thing he wanted to say. One more thing he wanted her to know. With his free hand, Sasuke tenderly cupped Sakura's chin and simultaneously kissed the rhombus that decorated her pale forehead. Sakura's eyes fluttered open at the contact, and Sasuke found himself dazed by the viridian hue. With a smile, Sasuke pressed a kiss to her lips which Sakura responded to with equal pressure.

He'd meant for it to be chaste, but when Sakura parted her plush lips, he had slipped inside before he knew what was happening. She tasted sweet, everything about her was, and the way her tongue twined against his sent shivers down his spine. Seized by the desire to have her closer, the hand that had been cupping her chin trailed to her waist and Sasuke shifted from his back onto his side. Eventually they broke apart in favor of air, and he could feel the warm puffs of her breath that settled against his cheeks. Pulling completely away seemed impossible to accomplish, so Sasuke only retreated back far enough so that he could see her expression clearly.

"I was thinking," he said, his voice was rougher than usual, taking a moment to rub his nose gently against hers, "that you're going to make a perfect Uchiha matriarch."

Sakura's eyes widened. Drawing back slightly, Sakura studied his face as if searching for something. Apparently finding what she was looking for, it wasn't long before a mischievous grin made its way across her face.

With grace only a kunoichi could command, she slipped her leg out from between his—when had that gotten there?—and dragged it seductively along the outside of his calf. His mind had all but blanked when she deftly used her superior strength to force him onto his back and straddle him as she proceeded to show him _exactly_ how right he was.

* * *

**Ending too forced? Let me know, I live for constructive criticism!**


	13. Day 13: Drowning

**Title: **Blood, Booze, Loneliness, Repeat

**Summary: **

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Naruto. If I did, Sasuke wouldn't be such a giant bag of dicks right now.

**Prompt: **_Drowning _ from day thirteen of the SasuSakuMonth Prompts.

**Rating: **M

**Words:** 4,084

**Warning(s): **Alcoholism. Also angst. Piles and piles of angst.

**Author's Note: **I think I fixed all my tenses, but let me know if you noticed anything.

* * *

Most days it felt like she was drowning. The instrument of her demise, however, varied from day to day. Fate seemed to have a vast and twisted sense of humor.

After the war was won, it was supposed to be simple. The nations would form an alliance, and a time of peace and prosperity was supposed to wash gently over the lands. Wasn't that how it always worked? The protagonist defeated the antagonist, and everything was okay. Wasn't that how it was supposed to work?

According to reality, it wasn't.

Casualties of the war had far outweighed the survivors, and this time no one brought them back. The dead and dying lined every passage. No hallway put them out of sight. No wall blocked the stench of their decay. No water washed away their blood.

By the end of the week meant to regroup the forces before they could head out, Sakura had been witness to more dying breaths and last words than she cared to count, even if she would always remember.

Carrying the dead home wasn't feasible, but neither was performing individual cremations for every body (even recovering from a war, the ninja nations protected their secrets). Instead, it was Sakura's healing hands that smashed crater after crater into the ground to serve as mass graves for the fallen. If that wasn't bad enough, often times the dead were already being lowered into their final resting point as soon as Sakura lifted her face from the ground. For some reason, the universe found it fit to torture her with the faces of the many, many, many patients she had failed.

When one grave had been filled, oil was sprayed over the corpses, prayers were murmured by all that still had their voices, and the remnants of lives were transformed into congealed, black ash.

Then the process began again.

It was a wonder she didn't break then.

_x_

When the proud gates of Konoha were finally within sight once again, Sakura felt hope stir deep within her war-torn heart. Hope for the future, hope to restore things to the way they were, and hope to chase down things that could have been.

She had glanced past the chatty blond to the subdued raven-haired ninja beside him. Despite every and all odds stacked against them, Team 7 had pulled through the fires of war alive and well (as could be hoped for). Now that they were finally, _finally_ back together, and Sasuke was finally, _finally_ back home, the only kunoichi on Team 7 was positive that things were beginning to look up.

Nothing could break Team 7's bonds. Not assassination attempts. Not betrayal. Not war. Not even death. Having survived all that, surely they were on their way to being whole once again.

How wrong she had been.

While Konoha's existence had rekindled the hope that burned within Sakura, it had only served to awaken Sasuke's old ghosts. The last Uchiha was moody on a good day, and downright murderous on the bad ones. Sadly, there seemed to be more of those than the good ones.

Naruto, the epitome of ever burning optimism was the perfect balance to Sasuke's darkness. He was unfazed by the poisonous words that slipped past his best friend's lips, and undeterred by Sasuke's resistance to reform their relationship. It was slow, but it was soon obvious to all of the village that the only person Sasuke truly accepted back into his life was the blue-eyed ball of energy, and it never failed to slap Sakura in the face.

As opposed to Naruto, who called Sasuke out when he was an ass, Sakura shrank back. She had been so sure that by getting stronger and proving herself she would be worthy of Sasuke's recognition. Instead, she is presented with evidence daily that she and Sasuke had never had a bond, and if they had, it was too weak to endure the damage time had dealt it.

(She is painfully unaware of the guilt-stricken glances Sasuke shoots her when she isn't looking, or the rare flashes of concern in his eyes.)

But Sakura is nothing if not selfless, and she dons her best fake smile (that everyone sees through) and helps Naruto the best she can. If he's the only one who can make the man she loves happy, so be it. Sasuke deserves to be happy more than anyone she has ever known, and she will do everything it takes to make it so.

Even if that means fading to the background.

That doesn't mean Naruto has given up on the idea of reforming Team 7, however, and Sakura and Sasuke often find themselves huddled at the bar of Ichiraku, silently suffering through reminders of the past and teases of a future that never will be.

Naruto's voice is loud, the food is warm and flavorful, and Sasuke's presence is overwhelming, but Sakura thinks that she is drowning in loneliness as she eats her cardboard flavored noodles.

It's then that she begins to drink.

_x_

Sakura's not certain when she had the first sip, but she will never forget the feeling of ease that flowed through her body as the sake flowed through her veins.

She is still aware of her surroundings, but the never-ending ache of loneliness and guilt and frustration and self-loathing dulls. The people around her are strangers, and the location is not one of her usual haunts-smelling of sex, cigarettes and regret-but Sakura doesn't care.

As long as the alcohol continues to burn down her throat, she can pretend, for at least a little while, that everything is okay.

On the other hand, the next morning is anything but okay.

The sun peeking through her curtains sear into her retinas even through her eyelids, and Sakura is unwillingly dragged into an empty and painful existence. Struggling to untangle herself from sweat-soaked sheets, she is alarmed by the volume everything seems to operate at. Even the sound of her legs dragging across the sheets cause her ears to wail in protest. This is only made worse by the drums pounding a solo in her head, and, disoriented and scowling in pain, Sakura struggles to her feet, trying and failing to get her wobbly legs to support her.

She quickly dropped to the carpet, the texture digging into her oversensitive skin, and Sakura's stomach rolls at the sudden movement. Its not long before she finds herself desperately crawling towards the bathroom where she barely has enough time or strength to heave her head over the side of the toilet before she begins to retch.

Nothing about the situation is pleasant. Every dry heave wracks her exhausted body, and the way the sound echoes does nothing to ease her headache. She has had nothing to eat since yesterday morning, so her stomach has nothing to expel but leftover alcohol and bile-the tangy mixture coating her tongue and throat until every breath smells of the combination, making her gag more.

Limp pink hair falls in Sakura's face, and it is a painful reminder that she is alone.

When her stomach finally gives up to remove the alcohol she has consumed from her system, Sakura drags herself slowly into bed, thankful she has no plans to be anywhere that day. With a blanket thrown haphazardly over her transparent curtains, successfully blocking the bright sun, Sakura finally is able to fall asleep once more, promising herself over and over that she will never repeat last night.

The next morning, refilled with her conviction to be strong, she heads out into the world with her mask of happiness firmly in place. She is stopped at the fruit stall of a single mother simultaneously trying to calm a crying baby and lead a toddler about their chores. This would be nothing special if she didn't recognize the mother as the wife of one of her failed patients. A chunk of flying earth had flown through most of his torso, and all she could do was give him a peaceful death-gleaning images of his family from the last memories floating around his skull.

She is struck with guilt, more strongly than anything she's felt in a long time. Immediately, she arrives to help the overrun mother, dying inside at how thankful the woman is. If she knew, if Konoha knew how much she had failed them, maybe then they wouldn't love her so much.

The day only gets better from there. Sasuke's expressions are indifferent and cold, and as Sakura struggles in his hold after their spar, she sees the disgust for her weakness in his eyes. Nothing has changed, and nothing is changing. The laugh Sasuke directs at Naruto during their spar kills her a little more.

Her shift at the hospital yields more fatal wounds. In rebuilding an apartment block in Konoha, a group of genin had accidentally unearthed an explosive tag. They didn't notice until it was too late, and in the resulting explosion the buildings remains had crumbled atop them. First to the scene, Sakura managed to free their young bodies from the wreckage, and was even able to restore life to their limp forms. She was not able to restore their consciousness, however, and all three are placed in the comatose ward.

She finds herself drowning in booze at the bar again that night.

_x_

Sasuke awakes from a haze of hatred one morning as he walks to the training grounds. The spirits are quiet today, as are the voices crying for vengeance in his head. He knows this is where his brother, and his family would want him to be, and most days Sasuke can remember that this is where he wants to be, too.

It's the days that Sasuke sees the elders, still unpunished, or the judging eyes of the village that twisted voices demand he restore the Uchiha to their former glory with the blood of the ignorant. Most times, refraining from mass murder takes most of his strength; a task he acknowledges he would have failed by now without Naruto, Kakashi, and Sakura.

The three are so determined to help him, so determined to welcome him back to Konoha, so determined to make it feel like his home again. When he's lost in visions of death iand destruction, it's often the sight of a familiar orange book, the banter of an obnoxious blond, or the sunny smile of a gentle girl that ground him until he can once again resurface.

Progress is slow, but Sasuke has more good days than bad ones now, and even the bad ones don't seem as overwhelming as they used to be.

With clear eyes, Sasuke surveys his surroundings, enjoying the smell of fresh rain in the air and the gentle breeze in his face. Peace is not a feeling the Uchiha is granted often, and he enjoys the refreshing emotion for all it's worth.

Today will be a good day.

He strolls into the familiar open ground of Training Ground 3 to find two familiar faces already stretching. Since the completion of the war, their sparring sessions have been trying and rigorous, each member testing and perfecting their newfound strength. Without a stretching session before hand, the amount of torn muscles they suffered was astronomical, and Sakura demanded that they all stretch with her or she wouldn't heal them afterwards.

Two days of suffering with a torn quad (he refused to let anyone else treat him) had convinced even his dark side that the time taken to stretch was worth it. He had mostly resisted the order because of the conversation that occurred during these times-he came to train, not talk! The habit grew on him, though, and soon it too was an instrument he could use to keep his demons at bay.

"Teme!" Naruto called, legs spread wide and reaching with both hands to touch his left foot. Sasuke raised an eyebrow in challenge, and Naruto raised one of his hands to point at him, "I'm gonna kick your ass today!"

"Tch," Sasuke rolled his eyes and brought his hands out of his pockets to stretch above his head, "As if."

Naruto's eyes brighten, and Sasuke can tell he knows that today is one of his better days. Gone are the days that he would lash out at his friend for guessing something intimate about himself. The road to recovery has been a long and trying one for all of them, and soul-baring came as part of the deal. Sasuke supposes that if Team 7 being able to read his face are the price he pays for sanity, then it could be worse.

They're finishing up and awkwardly deciding how to pair off, but their pink-haired member has yet to appear. Narrowed obsidian eyes scan the horizon, even activating the sharingan for a second to get a better view, before swinging back to the group.

"Where's Sakura?"

Naruto's eyes darken for a second before forcefully changing his expression to a relaxed one, "Oh, she'll be here. She's been late these last couple of days, it might just take a while."

Naruto is worried, Sasuke realizes, but he doesn't want to say anything. This causes him to scowl. If there's something wrong, Sasuke should know about it. He's a part of Team 7 again, and their new bonds did not allow for secrets.

He almost opens his mouth to say so, but clamps down on his tongue quickly before any words escape. It's hard, balancing the indifferent persona that is Sasuke with his newfound devotion to his team. On one hand he wants the team to reform, but on the other hand he wants to remain aloof. The bonds are there, no amount of trying could break them, but part of Sasuke will always treat them as if they are dangerous. As if the moment he openly returns the friendship, he opens them to risk of death. Opens his heart to more pain.

"Fine," he murmurs between clenched teeth, "It'll be an open spar, and take Sakura when she gets here."

He'd show her to make him worry.

By the end of training, the sun is high in the sky and Sakura still hasn't shown up. The three men retreat to the shade of the one tree they never dare destroy to drink water, but the air is still and silent instead of relaxed and teasing like it usually is. The absence of their female teammate feels wrong, and Sasuke has a strong sense there is something not being shared with him if the meaningful glances Kakashi and Naruto are sharing are any hint.

Finally, Sasuke sets down his water, glaring at his best friend, "Dobe, where's Sakura?"

He sees Naruto freeze, knows he is stuck between lying to him and telling him the truth. Naruto's mouth is open and his face is innocent when he sees Sasuke's murderous glare. The blond freezes, sighs and closes his mouth, his gaze turning to the ground. Kakashi watches the whole exchange silently, and actually tucks away his orange book.

"She's having a hard time, Sasuke," he mutters kicking the ground, "I think she's just taking some time to herself."

This, somehow, was not the answer he expected. An extended mission no one told him about, or maybe she was sick in the hospital, but having a hard time?

"With what?" Sasuke's face is incredulous, "Whose death does she have to reconcile?"

"Teme! That's totally not fair-

"The entire alliance's casualties," Kakashi answers, his voice is cold and slightly annoyed, "She blames herself for every single person that died under her command, and I'm sure even the ones that didn't."

Instantly he imagines the weight of the guilt Sakura must be carrying. He had lost his whole family, and it drove him on a quest for granted. True, Sakura didn't know and wasn't close t the people she lost, but the pure numbers were staggering. Even if she only felt a fraction of each loss in comparison to Sasuke's….the math didn't paint a pretty sum.

"She must know that isn't her fault," he snapped angrily, clenching his fists. But of course she could. This was Sakura they were talking about, Sasuke was fairly certain she'd give her life up for a stranger in a heartbeat. The disbelieving expressions on Kakashi and Naruto's faces mirrored the conclusion he had just come to. Of course she would blame herself.

"Then why aren't we helping her?" he's surprised to find the words come from his mouth, but believes in them nonetheless. Isnt that what Team 7 is for? Supporting eachother? The surprised looks sent his way cause him to cross his arms defensively.

Finally Naruto erupts, stalking up to him, "We're trying, Sasuke! I can't take ca-" he cuts himself off and looks away sullenly.

_I can't take care of everyone_. The words Naruto refused to speak echo in his head. His teeth clench in time with his fists.

"Then why pick me."

"It's what she wanted, Sasuke," Kakashi answer, holding Naruto's shoulder as if he anticipates a fight, "And you're half the problem."

"Me?" his nose wrinkles as he draws his eyebrows up in a disbelieving sneer, "I haven't done anything."

"Exactly! Sakura's been there for you as much as me, and when have you ever talked to her?" Naruto swings at Sasuke, which he dodges easily, "She's convinced you hate her, and she thinks it's because she's still too weak for her acknowledgement."

"Wha-," when Sakura had stopped initiating conversation with him, he assumed she still hadn't forgiven him from trying to kill her. The revelation that she thinks he was avoiding her hits him like a ton of bricks, and he freezes, allowing Naruto to land a punch on his jaw. The force of the punch combinated with his shock lands him on his ass.

Kakashi has contained Naruto, but his expressions is disapproving.

"Teme, I know you're still hurting," Naruto's voice is quiet but filled with emotion, "But you have to fix this."

It's the first time Sasuke contemplates the fact that he might not be the only broken one.

_x_

At first, Sakura's small stature works against her, and it takes nothing for her to sink into the wonderful world of nothingness. After a week spent surfing Konoha's bars, however, Sakura finds herself needing her mentor's capacity for alcohol.

Her third bottle of sake has just been uncapped when she feels someone sit next to her. She sighs without looking up; despite her disgruntled appearance, she had been approached by more men than she cares to count.

"Not interested," she downs her glass and reaches to pour herself another. The presence next to her doesn't shift, and she spins on her stool angrily to confront him.

"Look," she snarls aggressively, a finger stuck accusingly into his chest, "I…

The words die on her tongue as she takes in the unamused visage of Sasuke Uchiha. He waits for a couple moments, eyebrows raised as if daring her to continue her sentence. When she doesn't, he reaches past her and pours himself a glass of sake, knocking the whole drink back in one gulp. Sakura's hand drops back from his chest, and she turns back to the bar to sip her drink sullenly.

The air is tense and silent.

The third bottle of sake is finished before he says anything. She is raising her hand to motion the bartender over when he places his hand over hers, effectively keeping it on the table. Surprised, she turns to look at him to find his expression unreadable.

"You don't belong here Sakura."

Suddenly Sakura is angry, and she yanks her hand back from under his. Her chest puffs out in anger, and her fighting chakra is being directed to her fists unconsciously. How dare he! How dare he act like he knows her when he hasn't tried in the least to reacquaint himself.

Her hand moves to slap him, but instead of dodging the blow, Sasuke catches it, trapping both her hand and her gaze. It's unsettling to discover that he is not scowling like she anticipates him to be. His arm trembles under the pressure of her chakra infused strength, and deep in the recesses of her intoxicated mind, she is pleased. It's his eyes that catch her though.

His expression itself is bland, but glaring into his eyes Sakura swears she sees a hint of...concern? He's worried for her?

The anger that filled her so quickly leaves her just as rapidly. She deflates, arm hanging limply in her grasp.

"I know."

Her gaze is on the floor, but she hears rather than sees him places money on the table as he ushers her outside. Sakura pulls away from his side as soon as they are out the door, more comfortable with a shoulder's width of distance between them. The walk is silent, but Sakura knows it is pointless to send him away until they've safely reached her apartment. Broken bonds or not, Team 7 looks after their own.

"I don't hate you, you know," he speaks, his voice low.

Sakura can picture his hands thrust firmly in his pockets, eyes on the sky. She closes her own firmly.

"I know," she answers, voice soft and broken, "You just...don't care."

"Says who?" Sasuke demands, suddenly stepping in front of her. His eyes are fierce, furious, and Sakura has to wonder where this emotion came from.

"You do," she says, "with the way you only talk to Naruto, or the way you look at me, disgusted, when we spar. I know you care that I'm a member of the team, but it hurts to know that you don't care for me, don't believe in me."

"Says who," he demands again, crossing his arms fiercely over his chest, "I didn't think you'd forgiven me, Sakura, and I didn't want to force a bond on you."

Sakura is speechless, but Sasuke continues on.

"And if I'm disgusted with anyone, it's, it's me," he runs an exasperated hand through his hair, "I should have never attacked you, I could have-would have killed you, Sakura. And I hate myself. I should protect you, but I almost killed you. I almost killed you"

The repetition reveals how distressed the assassination attempt makes him, and Sakura's eyes water.

"I was going to kill you, too, Sasuke," her heart is heavy with old guilt, and more tears gather in her eyes. How could she have ever thought that was the answer?

"Tch, you wouldn't have killed me."

_Because you're weak._ The words are unspoken, but both hear them.

Sakura sinks into herself, wanting nothing more than to curl up into her cry.

"I know," her voice cracks, and she furiously dashes away the tears, "I could't kill you, I couldn't kill Madara _or_ Kaguya, and I couldn't save my patients. I'm weak, I'm useless, and everybody-"

She is suddenly drawn into solid chest, arms wrapped around her holding her close. Sakura's head fits snugly under Sasuke's chin, and his voice reverberates in her ears.

"You're not weak, Sakura," he murmurs, rubbing circles into her back with his thumb, "Naruto and I would have been dead ten times over without you, and you saved as many people as you could. We were at war, Sakura. People die. It wasn't your fault."

The sob that escapes Sakura's throat is a broken, wretched sound, and she desperately fists her hands in her shirt as she cries violently. Sasuke holds her, allowing his shirt to absorb her tears and garbled words. She is not sure how long they stand like that, entwined in the middle of the street. Nor is she sure if anyone saw them. All she knows is that eventually her half-silened sobs of anguish eventually turn into hiccups, and Sasuke doesn't let her go the whole time.

"You don't have to face this on your own, Sakura. Don't let yourself drown in the blood, or booze, or guilt, or lonliness," Sasuke murmurs, the first words since she started crying, "We're here for you. I'm here for you."

"I know," she responds into his chest, relishing the way he hasn't let her go, and the way he doesn't plan to. Team 7 is back now, truly reformed, and while there might be bumps along the way, it's nothing they can't handle together.

And maybe, just maybe, Sasuke cares for her more than a teammate.

* * *

**So, I really, very much like this one. I hope you do, too.**


	14. Day 14: His Side of the Story

**Title: **Between the Lines

**Summary: **According to Konoha, Sasuke barely tolerates Sakura-but what's his side of the story?

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Naruto. If I did, Sasuke wouldn't be such a giant bag of dicks right now.

**Prompt: **_His Side of the Story_ from day fourteen of the SasuSakuMonth Prompts.

**Rating: **T

**Words:** 1,755

**Warning(s): **Sexual tension (come on, when is there not?) and the use of the word "erection."

**Author's Note: **Guuuys. This prompt was so hard, you don't even know. I had no idea what to do for this, and I'm still unsure of how it turned out. Review, please?

* * *

"Annoying," Sasuke scoffed, rising from Sakura's pinned form.

The two had agreed to meet early this morning for training. Sakura needed to work exclusively on her evasion and speed-skills that were tested in the extreme against the last Uchiha. Due to Sasuke's nearly unmatched speed, he was the perfect opponent for Sakura to practice dodging, as well as catching up to. As she had pointed out, it was all good and well if she could avoid being hit, but to win she had to land a few hits of her own.

And she had been doing a decent job, Sasuke admitted grudgingly. The hours spent ducking mountain-crushing blows from her master had paid off, and Sasuke had a tough time catching the kunoichi without his sharingan activated. While she had an equally tough time catching him, her blows were fierce when landed, even without the backing of her super-strength.

When Sakura had left an opening, Sasuke had gone for it without hesitation, sweeping the nimble woman of her feet with a well-placed kick. As she stumbled, he closed in for the kill, trapping her wrists in one hand as he would and enemy and placing his other threateningly on the nerve on her neck. He had smirked then, full of confidence at his victory-though he had never really expected otherwise.

It was when she had started wriggling that the problem arose.

"Dammit!" the green-eyed woman cursed, thrusting her hips against his in a desperate attempt to throw him from her body. The movement summoned heat deep in his stomach, and it took a second for Sasuke to realize what was happening.

Ergo, his rushed and rude escape maneuver, leading him to this situation.

Green eyes furrowed in fury and the pink-haired woman leapt to her feet without the use of her hands. Long gone was the girl who shied from challenging him, and Sakura stalked to where he was gathering his belongings. Their height difference allowed him to look down upon her with the disinterested gaze he knew she despised as he slung his packed bag over his shoulder.

Her cheeks were flushed with rage, and her rumpled clothes did little to kill his rising desire. Determinedly, he kept his eyes locked on hers, refusing to let them waver for fear of the consequences.

"Best two out of three," she demanded through clenched teeth, arms crossed tightly. She hovered just within his realm of personal space, pressing enough for him to make out the floral scent laying beneath the sweat. Close enough to make his palms clench slightly in discomfort.

"If you'd made it more interesting, we'd still be sparring," he answered, voice low and scathing. As much as he wanted to spin around and walk away, out of the range of her unwelcome charms, he sensed retreating now would be giving in to her challenge.

"More challenging, my ass," Sakura declared, cocking her hip angrily, "You landed three hits on me-three-and one of them was that pin just now."

He hoped the sigh of longing came across as aggravated.

Damn this woman! Sasuke cursed, finally turning away from the land-locked siren. His grip on his bag was white-knuckled as his emotions waged war.

A large part of him wanted her. At nineteen, Sasuke was hardly new to lust. That came with the hormones of puberty. Yet, as a boy he had no problems quelling his physical desires. Now, for some reason, this girl was fanning his tightly coiled hormones and twisting them around her delicate, calloused fingers.

And she wasn't even doing anything!

That was probably the worst part, he acknowledged. Sakura wasn't to blame for his suddenly rampant desire as she had done nothing to incur it. No flirting, no coy looks, no revealing clothes, _nothing_. The only person in charge of his emotions was himself, but Sasuke felt tested and tried.

"Just let it go, Sakura," he called, back to her as he slowly walked away from his temptress, "We're done for today."

"Argh!" she screamed frustratedly, and unbidden an image of her green eyes sparking in annoying rose to his mind, "Well, fuck you, too, asshole!"

Loud enough for her to hear him, Sasuke snorted.

He wished.

_x_

According to a village gossip, Sasuke barely tolerated his pink-haired teammate. They rarely spoke to each other when Naruto wasn't present, and when they did, Sasuke's face was permanently stuck on "disdain." In reality, this couldn't be further from the truth.

The only human beings Sasuke had ever considered his family after his clan's annihilation all lay within the bonds of Team 7. It's just that, Sasuke didn't _do_ emotions. There would always be a part of him that believed love was just a weapon that destroyed you, and that part made it hard for him to be openly affectionate towards his teammate.

Especially in regards to Sakura.

The girl in question glared at him from her side of the side-walk. Despite their earlier disagreement, the two were walking to tonight's team dinner. Avoiding each other for the short walk would actually be more trouble than it was worth, as their paths overlapped to their destination: Naruto's apartment.

However, it was obvious from the moment that Sasuke spotted her leaning on a pole at their corner that the legendary medic was vexed. Her eyes were slitted underneath her long eyelashes, and she had spun away from the pole and stalked up the path alone once he was close. Sasuke chose not to retaliate, knowing her anger was just, but he refused to apologize.

Instead, he pulled a page from Shikimaru's book and thrust his hands deeply into his pockets, walking slowly after her. Unfortunately, this granted him the perfect view of her perky ass as it swayed in front of him, and Sasuke was forced to catch up to his annoyed teammate's side to avoid a repeat performance of this morning.

She glanced at him out of the corner of her eyes as he pulled up beside her, but said nothing. True to character, Sasuke stayed silent as well. They were halfway down the beaten path leading to Naruto's when she spoke.

"I know there was something else going on this morning," she accused, gaze forward, "That was a good spar by anyone's standards and you know it."

"Hn."

She could take from it what she would. He was not going to admit he called practice because he had nearly gotten an erection.

"Was it flashbacks?" she asked, voice uncharacteristically soft considering her previous anger, "I know you won't hurt me anymore, Sasuke-kun, you don't have to worry."

Sasuke sighed and resisted the urge to pinch the bridge of his nose. Leave it to Sakura to worry about him when he was being a dick.

"It's not that, Sakura, just leave it alone."

"No!" Sakura cut him off from his path and shoved him against the wall of the apartment they were walking next to, her forearm digging into his trachea, "Goddamit, Sasuke, I hate it when you cut me out!"

He noticed the dropped "kun"-that only happened when she was truly furious or worried-when his eyes detected a small, flying object speeding directly for Sakura. His eyes widened, and before Sakura could blink, her back was pressed against the wall, Sasuke pressed protectively against her front.

She caught a glimpse of his red eyes before they whipped over his shoulder to assess the situation, and, out of habit, hers followed. Down the street a group of children played, tossing a small white ball back and forth. At a second glance, it was revealed to be a game of keep away, with team members scattered along the street.

Sakura nearly rolled her eyes at Sasuke's over-protective reaction, but resisted in respect for his pride-okay, and also because she was flattered that his first reaction was to shield her. After years of ambiguity, a little reminder that he cared was welcome

"Calm down, Sasuke, it was just some kids messing around," she pressed lightly against his muscled chest.

Her touch brought Sasuke's gaze spinning back to hers, causing her to catch his breath. Although no longer red with the sharingan, Sasuke's obsidian eyes were no less striking as they burned into her. He had yet to pull away from her even though her hands were splayed across his pectorals, and his eyes continued to burn into her, demanding an answer that she didn't know the question too.

He really was beautiful, with his square jaw, aristocratic nose, porcelain skin, and raven hair. Every so often-when he fought shirtless at practice-Sakura was reminded that she had fallen for his looks first: his brooding countenance calling to her more than she could begin to describe. Now, pressed between the brick wall of the apartment and the hard planes of his body, Sakura doesn't dare look away. His eyes are filled with an emotion, or maybe several, that Sakura can't put a finger on, unfaltering in their perusal of her face.

She feels his gaze sweep along her cheeks, eyes, before resting on her lips. There is hardly a moment for her to recognize this fact before he has pushed away, striding down the sidewalk and leaving her burning against the side of a building.

"Oh," she murmurs, pieces of the puzzle that is Sasuke falling into place, "Oh!"

She grins wickedly, suddenly understanding the reason Sasuke was so quick to end their morning sessions. She sidles up to him, nearly skipping, with her hands interlocked behind her back. Sensing her sudden change of mood, Sasuke's eyes flick questioningly towards her and she grins like the Cheshire cat in response.

"You know," she drawls, coquettishly bumping him with the side of her hip as they walk, "I think you're pretty special, too."

He pauses in his step, his expression dumbfounded and complete with raised eyebrows. The hesitation in his step gives Sakura a chance to swoop in and place a light kiss at the corner of his mouth before striding ahead.

"And you're hot, too!" she calls back.

At first, Sasuke isn't sure how to react, frozen in place. Slowly, a grin works its way over his expressions, and he continues walking forward again until he has caught up with Sakura.

Sure, according to the villagers Sasuke barely tolerated Sakura. But according to him, she was the most important person in his life.

And it barely took any reading in between the lines to figure that one out.


	15. Day 15: Her Side of the Story

**Title: **The Third Perspective

**Summary: **Sakura tells what happened after the Infinite Tsukuyomi activated from her view.

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Naruto. If I did, there would be a giant Team 7 reunion _right now_.

**Prompt: **_Her Side of the Story_ from day fifteen of the SasuSakuMonth Prompts.

**Rating: **T

**Words:** 2,299

**Warning(s): **None

**Author's Note: **Rushed short piece is rushed. But also, I think this was the perfect prompt for this chapter. We get to see EXACTLY how Naruto and Sasuke are feeling, but how's Sakura? Also SakuIno friendship for the win! Tiiiny SasuSaku, I'm afraid. Just a tidbit at the end.

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After it was all over, when everyone had safely escaped their cocoons, when Sasuke and Naruto sported their newly-healed-if-a-little-patchy arms, when the tailed beasts had been set free, it seemed all everyone could think were two singular words: what happened?

They hadn't been there to see Madara fall. Kaguya was nothing but a name to them. The term "Rabbit Goddess" was a joke—not a terrifying figure cloaked in flowing white hair and resentment. Obito was nothing but a villain to the ninja nations. Volcanic chambers, artic tundras, and seas of acid were environments separated by vast distances, and the idea they could all exist within seconds of each other in the same space was incomprehensible.

Floating ninjas were definitely out of the question.

Thus, it was their task to repeat the tale that would be repeated for generations. Understandably, most people wanted to hear Naruto's side of the story. The bright, blonde haired boy had captured the respect and awe of the shinobi on the battlefield regardless their nationality. He was their savior—their beaming savior.

And so Naruto told them—in typical Naruto fashion. His explanations contained an excess of hand gestures and exclamations that his captive audience absorbed with wide eyes. Not a jutsu was left out of their epic battle, even if he did end up coining some ridiculous names like "Dimension-Switchy-Changey-No-Jutsu." Everything was exaggerated: their wounds, their strength, their teamwork. The way Naruto told it, Obito was the greatest hero ever known, Kakashi was the craftiest man he'd ever seen, which was mostly true, Sakura had single-handedly rescued Sasuke, and Sasuke was stubborn, but not bad.

Not that anyone ever bothered to ask for the story from Sasuke.

Despite Naruto's glowing rendition of his best friend's effort to save the world, the allied forces remained wary of the last Uchiha. As far as they knew, the two men who had almost single-handedly destroyed the world were Uchiha. The revelation that they had been manipulated by an evil Demon, who just so happened to be the mother of the Sage of Six Paths, would sink in eventually, but it would take time. If anyone did dare approach him, like the five kages, they only cared to know two things: "Can we trust you?" and "What made you change sides?"

Thankfully, Sasuke broke his lifelong tradition of one syllable responses and elected to give the kages a decent answer. Sakura had been collapsed next to Ino, practically supported by the girl's shoulder due to her chakra exhaustion, when she saw Sasuke answer Gaara's inquiry.

He had been silent for a long moment, not quite meeting the sand-nin's eyes, and Sakura had been worried Sasuke was about to make enemies already. Instead, he'd slowly interlaced his fingers—working hard to make his newly healed hand react like it was supposed to—and raised his head. She couldn't see his eyes from her vantage point on the floor, but the intensity in his voice made her shiver.

"As long as you're good to Naruto, you can count on me," he'd answered, "And as for why I changed sides…I guess that idiot finally got through to me."

_After almost killing each other again_, she'd thought, a tiny seed of anger making its home in her heart, _Why couldn't you have just stayed when I begged you to? Why did you have to put your life at risk?_

Ever perceptive to mood swings, Ino had locked her baby blues on Sakura the moment the bitter thoughts started to surface. Luckily she'd been smart enough to hold her interrogation off until Sasuke had wandered away.

"So, Forehead," Ino began, brash as always, "Although, not sure I can call you Forehead anymore now that you have this shiny new diamond on it. Seems you've finally grown into it."

Sakura's lips quirked tiredly. Leave it to Ino to disguise a compliment inside of an insult.

"What do you want, Pig?"

Ino narrowed her eyes playfully at the insult before her expression became serious. It was odd to see Ino so sincere. Sure, Sakura knew they had changed, but their contact had been limited these past three—almost four—years.

They had all been forced to grow up.

"What really happened, Sakura?" she questioned quietly, "The way Naruto tells it, you all held hands and skipped as you fought off Kaguya alone…but…"

"But?" She had to know why Ino was doubting.

"But I know you, Sak," she whispered, looking as sad as she had the moment they had received the orders to kill Sasuke, "If that's really how it went down, you would be wearing a million ryo smile, and Naruto and Sasuke wouldn't have matching damaged arms. It didn't sound like they got those from fighting Kaguya…"

"They didn't."

A calm quiet settled upon them as Ino waited patiently for Sakura to offer more information. That was another clue to just how much they'd grown up. Who could have thought that Ino could be patient?

Sakura was torn. Part of her really wanted to accept Naruto's side of the story. The side where Sasuke never tried to kill everyone she loved. But Sakura had her own side to the story. And it wasn't as pretty, but she really, really wanted it to be heard—wanted to tell someone how scary, and awful, and wonderful it was all at the same time.

Still conflicted on whether to bury the past or not, Sakura looked up from where her viridian eyes had been boring holes into the ground; Ino's expression was comforting. Welcoming. Patient. She took a deep breath.

"First of all, I know I'm not smiling, but you should know that I'm really happy. _Really_. Sasuke-kun is finally coming back, the war is over, and Team 7 is reunited," Sakura started, her hands tightly gripping the thin fabric of her pants. Ino gently unfurled one hand and took it in her own. "It's just that, I'm also so _tired_. Of a lot of things. Being weak. Not being able to live up to my goals…"

"What are you talking about, Sakura?" Ino interrupted, "I've never heard of challenge you've backed down from."

"I didn't bring Sasuke-kun back, Ino. Naruto did it all by himself. Again." Tears were welling in the corner of her eyes, now, "He was leaving us again, and I confessed again, and he still left. Kami, I'm so useless."

"That bastard did _what_?" Ino hissed protectively, causing Sakura to give a wobbly smile. There was a time that Ino would have used this confession to taunt her, but the girls were long past letting boys come between their friendship. "But, wait. He was going to leave again?"

Sakura nodded weakly.

"Oh boy. Maybe you'd better start from the beginning."

So she did. She started from the moment Naruto had stood up and disappeared from the Kamui world, leaving her behind with Obito. She told Ino about the trickle of dread she'd felt as Madara threw his staff at her like a spear, and how her stomach had convulsed the next as Obito shot her off to safety.

She gushed about how excited she was to see Sasuke still in one piece, but how she'd been horrified about Kakashi's missing eye. Ino sympathized with the jealousy Sakura felt when Naruto magically regenerated their sensei's eye without a second's pause. Healing was supposed to be what she brought to the team!

Not much of the story line would change, Ino found. The timeline was pretty much the same. But the way Sakura told it contained much more of the feelings—the raw emotions that had been missing from Naruto's tale.

Sakura did not ignore the pain—especially as she'd been impaled for the second time. Ino had pulled up Sakura's shirt to see the new scar, aghast. Sakura admitted the hurt—how painful it was to have Sasuke seem to not care about her wellbeing. Just like Naruto, Sakura relished in the joy—the bubbling feeling of gratitude when she'd been overwhelmed with when Sasuke had made it out of the desert dimension. Naruto had never added the way her body lit up from touching Sasuke, in his story, nor the smoldering glance he'd exchanged with her. The expression Ino wore at this particular tidbit of information was positively criminal, and Sakura had to laugh as the mischievous half of her friend resurfaced.

When they got to the part of her second confession, Sakura's throat tightened, and she had to pause. This was almost more painful than only landing one blow—albeit a good one—one Kaguya. Her whole reason for getting stronger had been to bring Sasuke back, but after all that time she could only pour her heart out again.

And she'd been ignored. Again.

Ino rubbed Sakura's back comfortingly until she could get the whole story out. Sakura couldn't see the stormy expression Ino wore as she described the genjutsu she'd been placed under, but she could feel her body tense as she held her. Even if Sakura knew exactly what he'd been trying—and failed—to communicate through that ghastly vision, it still hurt. She would never hate him, and she never could.

It was difficult to articulate how wrong the world felt when she woke up from the genjutsu, but Sakura tried. The feeling compared to waiting for a grade back on a test that hadn't gone so well, Ino had laughed, but that was as close as she could get. It was as if Sakura's entire world was just one inch from going terribly wrong, and her whole body tingled with anxiety. Finally she had tired of waiting with her sensei and took off after her teammates—chakra exhaustion be damned.

When she had first saw them, she was convinced they were dead. The pool of blood around them was too large, much too large. Naruto's normally tanned skin was pale, and Sasuke's light complexation was ghastly. Yet even as the horror of their missing limbs washed over her, she couldn't help admire the smiles that adorned their still faces.

They'd finally made up.

Holding back her sobs, Sakura had set to work, desperately trying to save their arms. It was only by the graces of the Sage of Six Paths that she succeeded, and she felt mildly bitter about the fact. The only thing she'd ever really been able to do for her boys was love them and heal them—and now she even needed help for that?

When their eyes had opened, Sakura's heart had skipped a beat. Naruto's lip was split, but he still managed to beam up at her and inform her that the Teme was coming home. Not quite believing what she was hearing, Sakura had looked to Sasuke for conformation, he'd nodded.

Then her whole reality shifted into back into place after three long years, and Sakura had burst into tears.

It wasn't long after that everyone started to wake up—thanks to Naruto and Sasuke, of course. Now, everyone bustled about, preparing to start their new lives while Sakura was still stuck processing the past. It was too surreal—all of it. Who's to say it wouldn't be a dream tomorrow?

Her tale finished, Sakura drew a rattling breath.

"Yeah. So that's what happened," she concluded, her voice raspy from so much talking. She felt extremely self-conscious now that it was all out there. Really, everyone was okay, and they'd won the war—she should be celebrating. Why did she have to complain so much?

Ino banished all her insecurities with a tight hug.

The platinum blonde didn't smell of flowers as she usually did. Instead, the stench of blood, sweat, and earth clung to her porcelain skin, but Sakura still found it comforting.

"You really are brave, Forehead," Ino mumbled into her shoulder. Sakura squeezed her friend tighter before moving to stand up. Ino relinquished her grap, and the two used each other to get to their feet.

"Thanks, Pig. Really."

"Oh, no problem. What are best friends for, anyway?" Ino waved her off with her ruined manicure, "Besides, all your whining was worth it for that juicy moment between you and tall dark and handsome."

She winked, and Sakura rolled her eyes before dragging her friend off to find the other members of Konoha 12.

No, not many would know her story. In fact, over the years, it was only a scarce number that even ever asked her to share. Most were satisfied with Naruto's thrilling reenactment. Of course, of the few who asked, even fewer actually got to hear her perspective.

Sakura was nothing if not loyal, and she trusted very few with the truth of what had happened with Sasuke. Trusted even less with her emotions for all that she tended to wear them on her sleeve.

It wasn't until later, when she and Sasuke were tenuously building back their relationship, that Sasuke asked for what the war was like for her.

The pair was sitting together under a tree—not close enough to touch but close enough to feel each other's warmth—and seeking shelter from the sudden rainstorm that had come over Konoha. It was nothing serious, and either team member could have made it home without getting terribly wet, but it was the perfect excuse to spend a little more time together.

They'd been doing a lot of that recently.

She considered his question from under lowered lashes, contemplating whether she was ready to open up her heart to him again. Sasuke's attention hadn't wavered, and his eyes held a tenderness that sent her body thrumming.

"Allright," she decided, bolding taking his hand in hers as she started her story, "I'll tell you my side of the story."

Sakura never regretted the choice.

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**So, that's done. Kinda rambly, but whatever. Next chapter!**


	16. Day 16: Indestructible

**Title: **The Hidden Flaw

**Summary: **Just when Sasuke had convinced himself that nothing could harm him, he finds the one weak link in his impenetrable defense.

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Naruto. If I did, there would be _no fucking revolution._

**Prompt: **_Indestructible _from day sixteen of the SasuSakuMonth Prompts.

**Rating: **T

**Words:** 3,748

**Warning(s): **Language

**Author's Note: **Not really sure where I was going with that. My lovely beta gave me the idea that being indestructible is kind of an illusion. You think you're without error or fault or weakness, but every person has to find his or her "shortcomings." Then I had to slip in the bit about the indestructible bonds. Also I really want to get these prompts done.

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Clutching the gaping wound on his arm, Sasuke focused on slowly counting to twenty. For most, the pain of having their flesh split straight to the bone would be enough command their attention for much of the immediate future. Unfortunately, as a shinobi who made questionable decisions for most of his youth, it took more than a single cut to consume his thoughts.

Also, he had a really annoying, really very loud best friend.

"Naruto, if you don't shut the fuck up, I'm going to shove my fist down your throat," he warned through clenched teeth.

Naruto, of course, took this as his cue to complain even more.

Mid-syllable, Naruto pulled himself up from his slouched position on the chair next to Sasuke and situated himself so that most of his weight was leaning on the armrest furthest away from him, "Really, Sasuke? Me? That's low, Teme, you'd do that to your best friend?"

Unimpressed by his wide-cerulean eyes and pouting lower lip, Sasuke glared at his self-proclaimed best friend. The fact that it was Naruto was the single reason the blonde was even still alive, if he was honest, and they both knew it. The path Sasuke walked was mostly straight and narrow now, but there were days he seemed to be covered in more shade than others—like days when fox-containing idiots decided to wake him up early on his day off.

Realizing that he was in no shape or form gaining any sympathy from Sasuke, Naruto threw himself back forcefully into the center of his chair. His arms were crossed tightly across his chest, barely five inches from his chin, and he continued to glare at petulantly at Sasuke even though said Uchiha was now steadily staring at the wall across from them.

"Teme, if you weren't such ass, we wouldn't be here in the first place," Naruto muttered into his chest.

Sasuke's eyes flickered red.

"Actually, Dobe, if you hadn't tried to pull me _forcefully from my warm bed_, I wouldn't be awake, and neither of us would be here."

"But Teme, we needed to have an _adventure_. You got let off on probation like a week ago and we still haven't done anything awesome!"

It was probably best the nurse chose that moment to interrupt.

"Uch-hia-san, Uzimak-ki-san, I know you're waiting for Haruno-san, but I really must insist we treat you now," a young nurse insisted, wringing her hands.

Without missing a beat, both Sasuke and Naruto responded, "We're fine, we can wait."

Naruto's voice was decidedly more friendly and energetic than Sasuke's—which tended to have a permanent deadly lilt to it—but the message was the same nonetheless. There were always plenty of nurses who were able and willing to treat them, but none of the Team 7 males would accept anyone other than their female teammate. Naruto and Kakashi appreciated the chance to catch up, but Sasuke simply didn't believe there was anyone else competent enough to handle him.

"But, but," the woman stammered before drawing herself to her full five foot stature, "Uchiha-san, you are losing a substantial amount of blood, and Uzimaki-san, I can see that severe burns cover most of your flesh. We need to treat you now."

At her words, Sasuke raised one eyebrow slowly, as if questioning if she really believed she could demand him to do anything. The woman's lips trembled, but her posture remained fierce and her fists clenched determinedly.

He supposed they probably were a pretty sorry sight. While a slightly alarming amount of blood had pooled below his arm and ruined the chair—fuck it, he'd pay for it later—it wasn't his only injury. The throbbing on a decent portion of his right cheek reminded him he would have a bruise tomorrow, and the slight sting talking caused let him know his lip was split. Naruto looked like he had stuck his finger in an electrical socket, and Sasuke smirked at the sight of his charred and slightly-more-upright-than-usual hair. As the medic had mentioned, Naruto was covered in burns. This was only more pronounced due to the fact that Naruto was clad in only his white tank top because his jacket had been burnt beyond all recognition.

There were probably other things—cuts, bruises, ripped clothes, and a slight smell of smoke—but none of that was serious for either of them. It did add to their general run down appearance, however.

"Look, you said Sakura-chan was just finishing up with her patient, right?" Naruto asked, opening his arms and placing his hands palms up in the universal soothing gesture, "We can wait a couple more minutes. Promise."

"That's unacceptable, I'm afraid," she answered, now having the nerve to cross her arms across her chest, "Uchiha-san is in real danger of passing out from blood loss."

"I took a blood pill," he responded without bothering to even make eye contact. Although he was the smallest bit impressed with her tenacity, it was beginning to get on his nerves.

The small medic looked ready to argue, but at that moment a familiar bunch of pink hair appeared down the hallway. Immediately Naruto and Sasuke's gazes swiveled to look at her, and the nurse turned to see what they were staring at so intently. When she realized Sakura had finally appeared, she sighed—a combination of relief and exasperation—and stalked off in her direction.

Oblivious to all of the attention on her, Sakura continued to converse with the young shinobi she'd been treating. Sasuke didn't recognize him, so he wasn't anyone of importance, but Sakura was bidding him farewell with the familiarity she usually reserved for members of the Konoha 12. She was laughing like some kinds of giddy genin! Sasuke's eyes narrowed to slits at the way the nameless shinobi placed his hand on her shoulder—and she just allowed it!

"Sakura-chan!" Naruto called, drawing attention away from her patient to them, "Over here!"

At the sound of Naruto's voice, Sakura spun—out of the man's reach, Sasuke noted smugly—to face her boisterous teammate, bewilderment on her face. He watched silently as she took stock of their appearance combined with the medic walking furiously towards her. Her expression morphed from surprise and pleasure to fury in a matter of seconds.

"What. Did. You. Do?" she seethed, punctuating every syllable with a threatening step forward. The nurse that had been in such a hurry to reach her faltered—even if Sakura's rage was not directed at her—and seemed to decide that her presence was not needed. The stormy kunoichi continued to advance, and when she was at the junction between the waiting room and the hallway concealing treatment rooms, she flung her arm out dangerously, pointing at the nearest room, "Get in. Now."

Naruto yelped at her enraged expression and hustled to obey, but Sasuke rose slowly from his chair. Part of his slow pace was due to his annoyance at being bossed around by anyone, but it was mostly due to the fact that his left leg didn't seem to be responsive as it was supposed to be.

Sakura assessed his gait with a sharp and unamused visage.

"I've seen men with broken legs move faster, Uchiha," she snapped, the use of his last name displaying further evidence of her annoyance, "Move it."

Shooting her his trademark glare, he moved a little bit faster, ignoring the pain that accumulated in his knee with every step. As always, his competitive nature forced him into reluctant action—regardless of the fact that these super-speedy-broken-legged-humans probably didn't exist.

He could still move faster than them; he was an Uchiha.

Once he was finally within the confines of the room, Sakura slammed the door behind them, and Sasuke was half-surprised the wall didn't crack from the force.

"What," Sakura hissed, crossing her arms aggressively and leaning against the close doors, "were you _thinking_."

An awkward silence followed as both Naruto and Sasuke attempted to avoid Sakura's accusing and fiery eyes. Moments ticked by, and the two boys sunk a little lower despite their pride.

"Well," Naruto hedged, rubbing nervously at the back of his neck and still avoiding making eye contact with a certain kunoichi, "I realized Teme had been off probation for, like, a week, and we hadn't done anything fun yet."

"Mhhmm," Sakura agreed. The sound was slightly threatening despite the noncommittal answer, and Naruto gulped before continuing.

"Well, right. Annnd. Uhm. Well, I really thought we needed to stop delaying this momentous occasion," Sakura continued to look unimpressed by his earnest expression and reasoning, "So, I went and got him, and Sasuke was being a bastard and didn't want to do anything."

"_It was six in the morning!_"

Sakura's calculating stare flicked to Sasuke at this outburst before going back to Naruto. Slowly, a single pink eyebrow arched delicately.

"You thought it would be a good idea to _wake Sasuke up_?"

All of Team 7 was aware of Sasuke's affection for early mornings (read: none). Even as genins Sasuke was more likely to respond to wake-up calls with Katon-no-jutsus than actual words or comprehension. Then, of course, there was that time that he had blown up Orochimaru's whole base to pieces because Sai had woken him up from his nap.

"Exactly!" Sasuke emphasized, feeling vindicated with Sakura's support and gracing Naruto with knowing smirk.

Without a second's pause, Sasuke was suddenly the center of attention. Sakura's head whipped as her gaze narrowed in him. He fought not to look away and instead mockingly cocked an eyebrow. It was as good as signing his death sentence, he knew, but it felt so cowardly to look away. What should he care if Sakura was mad at him?

"And you," she seethed, steam practically blowing from her ears, "You thought it was perfectly fine to respond to being woken up by _electrocuting him and setting him on fire_?! Who does that? I don't even want to think of the state of your house."

Uncomfortable silence followed her outburst, and Sakura eyed them with equal disdain before throwing her hands up and stalking over to the counter in the corner of the room. Sounds of clinking glass and running water filled the room, but the lack of voices was overwhelming. Hell, he even wished Naruto would talk.

He could catch the faint smell of chemicals—antiseptics?—but still the quiet continued.

"The dobe's fine," Sasuke edged, shifting his injured arm into a new position, "And we only broke one wall before we got outside."

In the middle of turning around, Sakura's face shifted through several emotions before finally settling back on annoyance. Her stony expression was an odd contrast to the slightly damp cotton she cradled in one hand. He thought she was going to ignore his statement completely as she unceremoniously jabbed his wound forcefully with the little balls of fluff.

"The only reason Naruto is okay is because he's a walking chakra reserve," she bit out, still prodding his arm with the stinging puffs, "And I have no idea why you're still alive. You should have bled out by now."

"He took a blood replenishing pill. A couple, actually," Naruto supplied from his chair. True to Sakura's assessment, his skin was beginning to heal and lose its red tint already. Damned kyuubi.

Viridian eyes widened in what looked like horror.

"You took a _couple_?" her voice was aghast, "Sasuke-kun, don't you know how bad that is for you? You're opening the possibility of thinning your blood, decreasing oxygen flow—not to mention the long-term affect to your veins!"

He doubted that he even realized that she had referred to him as "Sasuke-kun" instead of the "Sasuke" she generally referred to him by now. Although a small—tiny, really—part of him was pleased that Sakura was breaking down the wall she'd kept firmly in place, it was discomforting to have her unbridled concern focused on him. Heat rose to his face, and Sasuke shifted his stare away from him.

"I'll be fine, Sakura. Stop worrying. It's annoying."

Although he could no longer see her face, he could feel the way her hands stilled as she cleaned his wound.

"Right. Just stop worrying," she repeated, her tone impressively bitter, "Everything will sort its self out, and nothing possibly could go wrong."

The jabs increased in force, but Sasuke refused to flinch away or complain. He hadn't meant to upset her, but he obviously had. Again.

"Not only did you and Naruto nearly have a death match over nothing, but _then_ you had to go and refuse to be seen by anyone else. Do you have a death wish or something?" she exclaimed, punctuating her words with a particularly vicious thrust of the cotton ball into his wound. Sasuke did flinch this time, and it brought Sakura back to her senses.

"Sorry. I needed to clean the wound before I could heal it," Sakura muttered, raising a glowing green hand over his torn flesh.

Immediately, a cool sensation settled across his sore skin, and he exhaled a little more deeply than he had intended to. Sakura's lip curved upward in response to his small sigh, but with the close proximity, Sasuke couldn't help but notice how weak of a smile it was. Her pink lips, such a different shade than her vibrant hair, trembled, and a muscle in her jaw twitched from being clenched so hard. A sudden urge to smooth his thumb along her cheek seized him and his hand actually twitched with the desire, but he resisted—only just in time to be loudly reminded they weren't alone.

"Ah, he'll be fine, Sakura-chan," Naruto assured her, "It'll take a lot more than some extra blood pills or an unexpected spar to kill us."

Once again Sakura's motions stilled, and Sasuke sensed that somehow this was not the right thing to say.

"Right. Of course. Konoha's heroes couldn't possibly be killed by such mundane means," her voice was wavering now as well. When she looked up from her work, Sasuke could see the tears gathering in the corners of her eyes, "When are you two going to realize you're not indestructible, huh?"

Naruto looked blindsided by Sakura's sudden tears and desperately signaled for Sasuke's help. The stoic nin could only subtlety shrug in response. He had no idea where this came from—or where it was going for that matter, either.

"You _realize_ you almost died on that battle-field, right?" she all but shouted, switching her attentions from one boy to the other, "You _know_ that you both were missing your _fucking arms_ and _bleeding out_, right? You know I had to pull some major tricks to stop you from bleeding out before whatever fucking gifts you got from the sage magically granted you new arms, right? You do realize you were and inch—a _centimeter_—from death, _right_?"

Neither Sasuke nor Naruto dared open their mouths in the face of the heaving Sakura. She continued to flick her stare from one Naruto to him, as if challenging them to answer her. They still didn't after several minutes, and even Naruto didn't seem to have an idea of the right thing to say.

Sakura sighed heavily after the silence continued, and smoothed her hand through her hair.

"Of course you don't," she muttered, mostly to herself, "Of course, neither of you would pause to think that you're as human as the rest of us. You just keep rushing into danger, and getting hurt, and one day you won't bounce back."

Dropping the bloodied cotton balls in a small, yellow bag, Sakura gathered some more cotton and antiseptic before moving towards Naruto and dabbing at his remaining burns and cuts.

"Your arm is good, and I healed your knee enough to take away the pain, but you need to take it easy, Sasuke," Sakura directed without glancing at him.

"Ow! Sakura-chan, that stings! Why can't you just use your chakra?"

"Because I'm not wasting any more chakra than I need to on you two, and you both deserve a little discomfort," she answered aggravatedly as Sasuke made his way to the door, "Plus, the kyuubi is healing your burns just fine, I just need to make sure you don't get an infection bec—"

Sakura's voice trailed off as Sasuke shut the door behind him.

The annoying nurse calls out to him as he leaves, but Sasuke ignores her, walking past without so much as a shred of guild. Social norms have never bound him, and he sees no reason to pay heed to them now.

Especially when Sakura's voice is running on repeat in his head.

_"__When are you two going to realize you're not indestructible?"_

Who's to say he wasn't? He knows it's childish, and it's mostly his ego talking, but Sasuke feels miffed at the suggestion that there was actually someone out there that could permanently damage him. If such a person were to exist, it could only be Naruto, but they're past aiming to kill each other.

Did Sakura really think he was weak? With the combination of the mangekyou and rinnegan he was basically untouchable. His susano provided protection that rivaled—if not outclassed—Gaara's "Ultimate Defense." Outpower him? Sasuke couldn't think of anyone that could. He'd put down a God, for Kami's sake.

Perhaps his body was still prey to time—but whose wasn't? Other than natural causes, he didn't have a weakness to speak of. Indestructible meant being without weakness. It meant bouncing back from every challenge. It left no room for defeat. No option for failure. It meant living to conquer another day.

Sakura was worrying over nothing. If anyone was indestructible, it was definitely him.

-x-

"Sasuke-kun? Stay with me Sasuke-kun!"

Sasuke struggled to make out the words, and dimly realized that Sakura was yelling at him. Not that that was a spectacular event in itself, these days, but something about her voice was different. Why did she sound so worried?

"Don't you _dare_ give up on me now! Sasuke-kun!"

Sakura's voice sounded like it was traveling through water, distorted and weak. Why were her words so hard to make out? Where were they? Sasuke struggled to open his eyes but found them surprisingly heavy. Was it night? Was he dreaming? It was also really hard to breath; there seemed to be something filling up his chest and pressing down on it all at the same time. Were they in danger?

"Sasuke-kun, no! No, no, no!"

Was she crying again? It sounded like she was crying. Sasuke fought again to open his eyes and see what was going on. Damned woman was always crying—he hated it when she did that. Had he made her cry again?

"Come _back!_"

Sasuke had enough time to wonder where exactly she wanted him to come back from—he was right here!—when an excruciating pain exploded in his chest. He gasped loudly, taken aback by the suddenness of the feeling, and forced his eyes open.

Fuzzy. Everything was still so fuzzy.

"That's right, Sasuke-kun, stay with me. You're almost healed."

Healed? Had he been hurt? Slowly, the indistinct figures around him began to take shape. Sakura hovered over his chest, and her hands were glowing a vibrant green. Instead of her normal wear, Sakura donned her mission wear but every article had been practically torn to shreds. Deep scratches marked her cheek—it looked like a wound from a kunai.

It all came back to him in a flash.

The mission. The ambush. The way Naruto had dropped like a stone when an errant chunk of exploding wall had connected with his thick skull. The desperation he felt trying to protect Naruto as Sakura healed him feverishly. The fear that overtook him as he watched to sword head straight towards Sakura's unprotected back. The speed with which his body just _moved_.

"Thank Kami, you've stopped bleeding," Sakura breathed, her words much clearer now, "Just a couple more seconds."

True to her word, the boiling sensation that spread over his chest subsided, and his every breath wasn't punctuated with needles to his lungs. With Sakura's help, he eased himself into a sitting position. The front of his shirt was torn, and if he wasn't wearing black he had no doubt the amount of blood on the fabric would have been staggering. Only a small scar hinted that he had ever been impaled.

Sasuke touched to new scar tenderly, and his lip quirked at the memory of an old argument.

"Definitely indestructible."

At first, Sakura looks bewildered. Then anger filled her expression, and her thoughts were stamped across her face (Didn't he know how close he had come to dying? Again?). The smirk convinces her he's joking—mostly—and then she's throwing herself at him, and wrapping her arms around his chest with a force that hurts.

"You're such an asshole, Sasuke," she murmurs, leaving tear tracks and half-articulated threats against his chest.

"Yeah," he agrees, bringing the hand that isn't supporting his weight to wrap around her.

"Once a Teme, always a Teme," Naruto interjects. Sasuke subtlety shoots him the bird with the hand behind Sakura, and his best friend immediately responds in kind. They glare at each other for a couple seconds before Naruto's gaze loses its hard set and he begins to laugh. Sasuke hides his smile in Sakura's hair.

While his physical immortality was up for debate—he was alive again, wasn't he?—he was more than willing to admit that he wasn't as indestructible as he thought previously. Being indestructible left no room for weaknesses—no possible Achilles heels. But these two, this pink haired girl and blonde boy, they were the blaring chinks in his impenetrable defense.

There was nothing he wouldn't do for them, of that he was sure. It was up for debate whether the bonds he shared with them were a weakness or strength, however. Yes, he drew energy and security from them, but they caused him to throw away any regard for his well-being without a second thought. That kind of reaction decidedly did not exist in rational, indestructible people.

If being indestructible meant he had to give up Team 7, give up the girl clinging to his chest and the friend who was currently teasing him from the side—well.

Then, maybe being indestructible was overrated. Maybe it was worth it just to share an indestructible bond.

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**I apologize, I know this isn't my best work. The prompts preventing all the stories from being published on here are my least favorite, so I'm kinda just pushing through them. Not my fav way to write. I DO like these next two chapters though! Enjoy! XD**


	17. Day 17: Monster

**Title: **Through the Window

**Summary: **With a past of nothing but blood and betrayal, Sasuke has a hard time picturing himself as anything but a monster.

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Naruto. If I did, Sasuke wouldn't be such a giant bag of dicks right now.

**Prompt: **_Monster _ from day seventeen of the SasuSakuMonth Prompts.

**Rating: **T

**Words:** 2, 479

**Warning(s): **Self-loathing and a tiny paragraph of slaughter

**Author's Note: **Written while Nightcore's remix of DotEXE's Monster played on repeat. Tried my hand at a prologue type thing.

* * *

An infectious, tinkling laugh filled Uchiha manor's dining room. The laughing young woman wiped tears from her eyes as she playfully smacked the shoulder of a whiskered young man with spiky blonde hair. The silver haired elder of the group wore a mask over the lower half of his face, but his two eyes were crinkled in a smile. Beside the older man, two dark haired men sat contentedly, nothing obvious on their faces.

The open window allowed the scent of the group's dinner, miso ramen, to float outside and join with the floral scents of spring. Dusk settled, and soon the light pouring from the house was the only source of light for outside.

Had anyone chanced a glance inside, they would see nothing amiss about the five membered group. Perhaps, one would observe the long scar marrying one eye of the silver-haired man and correctly assume he had seen battle. Perhaps, one would take the time to admire the reaction time each member of the table possessed as they laughingly threw food and utensils at each other and correctly assume they were Konoha ninja.

It would not be obvious, however, that the group gathered for dinner actually contained the three successors to the Sanin title (Tsunade's student, the Hokage-to-be, and The Last Uchiha) as well as an ex-member of Danzou's root force, and the legendary Copy-nin. No one guess.

Not from their mannerisms, at least. No one would guess who they were, and what power they wielded. Not one of them seemed aware of their status, their rank. No one but one.

Sasuke caught himself smiling at his teammates' antics and quickly squashed it before it was apparent. Ruefully, his gaze flickered to the open window where he knew for a fact two Anbu perched. It had been two years since the war's termination, and yet his ever faithful watchdogs always reminded him of what he was.

A monster

There had been a time, a blissful two months, when Sasuke was free of judgemental eyes. When he survived his probationary one-year sentence, the Hokage released him to solo-missions. Along with the freedom outside the tall gates, he had been granted freedom inside the gates.

Until he had screwed it up.

It had been a mission with other jonin-a routine scroll pick-up, nothing serious-when it had all gone wrong.

Green eyes caught his expression once again, graced with a smile just for him, and Sasuke forced himself to look away.

_"What the fuck, what happened here?" demanded the Captain of Sasuke's squad._

_Panting, Sasuke slowly spun around, taking in the destruction. Shreds of bodies lay around him and the woman behind him. Several bodies were nothing but black ash, the stench of charred flesh permeating the air. Blood dripped steadily from Kusanagi, the pitter patter of drained life filling the silence._

_"I..don't know."_

"Teme...teme, are you even listening?" an annoying voice squawked, dragging him back from the past, "Teme likes boys!"

Without looking back from the window he was currently staring out of, Sasuke defly grabbed an onigiri from the plate to his left ans chucked it at Naruto's head. A dull _thunk_ and the following noise of protest marked Sasuke's perfect aim. Finally tearing his gaze from the window, Sasuke glared at his best friend, folding his hands nonchalantly under his chin.

"Dobe."

"OW! Teme, that hurt," Naruto whined, wiping rice from his forehead, "It doesn't matter if you're into guys, no one is judging you."

"..." Sasuke's eyes bled red.

"Both of you, calm down!" a feminine voice interjected. Although her voice was soft, the command was emphasized by the knife she pointed threateningly at Sasuke and Naruto and her unblinking scowl. "We're having a nice family dinner, and we don't need you two starting a fight."

Both boys returned to their food, trading dirty looks through mouthfuls of noodles only when Sakura wasn't looking. Although technically she was the weakest of the three original genin of Team 7, Sakura packed a nasty punch and quick temper (courtesy of Tsunade). If she was really pissed, she could resort to refusing to heal them from blows they'd inflicted upon each other or ones she had dealt them.

"Hm, does this bossy temperance make you our matriarch, Ugly?"

Sakura blinked, in the middle of pouring more tea for Kakashi and set the pot down gently before answering, "Um, not really, Sai. To be a matriarch.."

"You need a clan to be a matriarch, idiot," Naruto laughed, "And Sakura isn't from a ninja clan!"

_That doesn't mean she wouldn't be a good matriarch_, Sasuke mused, observing her quietly over his tea.

The woman in question tucked a pink lock of hair behind her ear with a sigh, leaving her boys to duke this one out. In Sasuke's opinion, Sakura would make the perfect matriarch: strong, loyal, intelligent, and gentle. Unbidden, an image of Sakura adorned in the Uchiha crest, heading a clan meeting sprang to mind, and he shook his head to clear it.

He would never ask that of her.

Apparently done with his squabble with Sai, Naruto turned his attention towards Sasuke.

"By the way," he said with a full mouth, "Granny is thinking about reinstating you as a ninja again. Don't screw it up this time, kay?"

_No, _the though was wild, frantic, and Sasuke had to set his cup of tea down to avoid breaking it. He couldn't go on missions again, he was unstable. When he had set his blade down, Sasuke assumed that he had set it down forever, and resigned himself to a pointless life under guard. While undesirable, it was much more preferable to losing control again.

Despite what others believed, Sasuke wanted no more blood to stain the Uchiha name.

Taking his silence as pleasant surprise, Naruto carried on, "Yeah, and the first couple of missions will be just Sakura-chan and me, so you can watch how real masters do it." He waggled his eyebrows teasingly.

"No."

The word was spoken this time, breaking out of his thoughts, and the table stilled. He couldn't go on any mission with Sakura. The last mission he'd gone on ended in a bloodbath-and an unintentional one at that. More than anything that showed he wasn't stable, wasn't a trustworthy teammate. What if he hurt her? What if he killed her?

"Hey! What's that supposed to mean? Sakura-chan and I aren't good enough for you?"

"It means no," he growled, abrupt and cruel, "No more missions, and definitely not with you two."

Kakashi cleared his throat, setting aside the book he had been stealing glances at under the table-out of Sakura's view. "You can't have meant to give up missions forever, Sasuke. What will you do for the rest of your life if you're not a shinobi?"

"Yeah, teme!" Naruto nodded, an earnest expression on his face and both hands bracing himself on the table, "You're pretty much useless if you're not a ninja, let's face it. You can't give that up."

"I can and I will," he declared, pushing his chair back from the table and standing up, "The Uchiha don't need more blood on their name."

With that, he stalked towards the window and threw himself out of it, swinging nimbly up to the rooftop. He felt the Anbu more clearly now, and he loathed that they had seen his outburst just now. Drawing his knees to his chest as he settled down, Sasuke sighed and try clear his head as he'd been taught. Through the crickets, Sasuke could hear the warzone below him.

"...be more careful about what you say, Naruto!" Sakura roared, and he could picture the way she would be nose to nose with Naruto. Scowling up at him angrily with a finger poked accusingly into his chest.

"He's got a point, Sakura, Sasuke's a ninja, and he has to accept…"

ignoring Kakashi's senior status and abandoning the respect and reverence she usually showed him, Sakura cut their sensei off.

"And the last mission he was on ended complete destruction of the enemy, and almost the destruction of his team," she cut him off bluntly.

_Good,_ he thought, ignoring the twinge of pain in his chest, _Give up on me. Leave me behind, I'm not worth it._

"Don't you think he's struggling with that? You can't just drag him back out on missions because you miss him, Naruto."

_Dammit, Sakura,_ despite his determination to be angry with her, part of him felt lighter knowing she hadn't given up on him yet.

"I doubt that's the first time Traitor-kun's seen bloodshed, Ugly."

There was silence for a couple beats for all Sasuke knew it was a popular opinion.

"Out. Now," Sasuke could barely make out her voice, but rage filled every syllable, "Everyone out now."

"But Sakura-chan.."

"Now!"

So commenced the scraping noises of chairs as people pushed away from the table. Dishes clinked in the sink, and voices and footsteps left the dining area. Finally, Sasuke heard the door open and slam shut, signifying everyone had gone.

"Later, teme! Don't sulk for two long!" Naruto's voice called into the darkness.

Sasuke scoffed, but said nothing. The answering laugh told him Naruto's fox hearing had picked up on his response.

It wasn't long before a second body launched itself onto the rooftop and padded lightly over to where he sat. Upon the second person's arrival, he felt the Anbu disappear, most likely dismissed. He didn't have to look up to know who the new arrival was.

"Go home, Sakura," he worked to make his voice cold.

She didn't heed his words, and instead sat down next to him, leaving a shoulder width of space between them. There was a time when Sakura would have shrunk back and obeyed Sasuke's orders without a question. Although her devotion had not wavered, annoyingly, her immediate deference to him had. To further emphasize her maturation, Sakura did not speak, and simply sat beside him, silently offering her support if he wanted it.

The moon rose higher and higher in the sky and Sasuke's muscles grew stiff from disuse. Still, Sakura did not open her mouth to lecture, or even to comfort-but neither did she leave him.

What did a monster like him do to deserve a healer like her?

"I'm not changing my mind," he finally said, eyes fixated somewhere out infront of him, but not really seeing, "I'm not going on any more missions."

"I didn't ask you to," she responded, her voice rough with either disuse or emotion, "But I'm not changing my mind either."

Sasuke's determination to dissuade him front loving him was not new, and neither was her persevation. Her presence had been exceptionally clear since the botched mission, only eight months ago. Always bothering him was random visits, tomato baskets, and random Team 7 lunches. Never letting him forget he wasn't alone.

Sakura sighed, "Let's talk about what this is really about, Sasuke-kun."

Sasuke clenched his fists and drew his legs in closer, refusing to respond.

"You've been having sessions with Yuhime-san, right?"

Yuhime was what Tsunade deemed a "mind medic." After Sasuke's catastrophic mission, Tsunade had wasted no time sending him to see the woman that had worked wonders with Jugo. During their weekly visits, Yuhime talked, and sometimes he would respond. Despite his reluctance to speak, Yuhime had declared that he was making amazing progress. He had been pleased, happy even that it looked like he would be able to live his life out in peace, but now it looked like the bitch had run to Tsunade the first chance she got.

"Yes, I have."

"And she says you're making progress, Sasuke," her voice was gentle, calm, but not cajoling, "There's less than a 25% chance that you'll do something irrational on a mission."

Sasuke snorted. That was a fine way of putting it, "That's still not good enough"-especially not with her at stake- "I can't risk losing contr-"

"Sasuke-kun," Sakura interrupted him with a tentative hand on his shoulder. Startled, Sasuke turned his head to face her, barely making out her face in the darkness, "You're not going to hurt me."

Sasuke sucked in a breath so quickly he almost choked and yanked back from Sakura. His face twisted in a cruel sneer and he chuckled darkly.

"Like a care about that."

Instead of flinching at the comment, Sakura smiled sadly, making Sasuke's gut clench. He wasn't sure if it was better that she wasn't crying, for how horrible he still felt.

"Sasuke-kun, Sasuke-kun," She chided softly, laying back and looking up at the stars, "Haven't you realized after eight years that you can't drive me away?"

"Then you're as stupid as you were as a genin," he snapped, sliding even farther away, "I'm a blood-stained monster, I don't care about love or bonds."

Sakura was sitting up in a flash and Sasuke's face was pulled to face her, her green eyes blazing,"You are NOT a monster, Sasuke. Stop saying that." When Sasuke didn't pull away, mostly from surprise, she continued on, making sure to keep eye contact. "You've been through more hell than most people could imagine. No one expects you to walk away without a couple chinks, especially me."

"Hmph. Says the girl I tried to kill." Sasuke still didn't pull away from her grasp, even when it turned to cup his cheek lovingly.

"Says the girl whose life you've saved countless times."

Sasuke clenched his teeth and closed his eyes, "I'm never getting rid of you, am I?

Sakura's chuckle was watery, "Never."

"I don't deserve you."

It was the thought that plagued him the most. He was a traitor, a betrayer, an avenger-a Uchiha with the mark of Orichimaru. She was a healer, a loyal teammate, a true Konoha nin-the pride of Tsunade. He could never love her without also condemning her to live in the shadows,

"Love isn't about deserving, Sasuke-kun," she dropped her hand and Sasuke felt her scoot closer to him, "Even if you and the whole world don't believe you're worth it, that doesn't change my feelings. You're all wrong."

Sasuke sighed and gave in, drawing the annoying woman to his side. He knew he was being selfish, but if Sakura was going to continue to offer herself to him, then he was going to accept it. Sakura curled into his side and rested her head on his shoulder, her warmth sinking through his clothes.

"You don't have to start doing missions if you're not ready, Sasuke-kun," she murmured, obviously content, "But you're not going to hurt me, and you're not a monster."

Sasuke only drew her closer, "Enough, you annoying woman. I get it. You're full of blind faith."

When Sakura tapped him on the arm in a light punch, Sasuke smiled. No, he couldn't be a true monster, because wonderful women did not spend their lives with monsters, and Sakura Haruno intended to stay with him.

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**Awww. I love the idea of Sakura helping Sasuke through his darkness. (*^_^*) You guys?**


	18. Day 18: Dropping Your Guard

**Title: **Convenient Excuses

**Summary: **When Sasuke drops his guard at the worse possible moment, Sakura reacts instinctively. But has she wormed her way through his defenses as well?

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Naruto, but HEY, I might as well because look who's NOT being an asshat.

**Prompt: **_Dropping Your Guard _from day eighteen of the SasuSakuMonth Prompts.

**Rating: **T

**Words:** 2,731

**Warning(s): **Minor gore, not bad.

**Author's Note: **Guys, I love protective Sasuke. Protective Sasuke is the best.

* * *

With their A-rank mission drawing to a close, Sasuke and Sakura had formed a relaxed formation as they drew close to the border, scroll in hand. Those who had guarded the scroll were long dead, and their base devastated. Usually, a mission of this kind required a squad of Jonin, but Tsunade had determined that it was something the two of them could handle.

_And she was right_, Sakura thought happily. This mission had been a perfect opportunity to prove her worth a kunoichi, and she couldn't help but feel successful. Twice she had caught Sasuke by surprise with her extensive understanding of strategy, and thrice she had glimpsed impressed looks as she eliminated her foes.

No, she hadn't been blessed by the Kage of six paths, but Sakura was a ninja worth reckoning with and it was about time Sasuke realized it, dammit!

Out of the corner of her eye, she observed her partner. He had only spoken when necessary since their retrieval of the scroll, and seemed lost in thought. Had she been younger, the silence would have eaten away at her and caused her to reach out to him. With age had come patience, however, and Sakura was now more than capable of holding her tongue. Sasuke would open up when he was ready and not a second before.

Until then, she would wait.

She had just begun to swing her gaze back towards the path when she caught a flicker of a shadow launch itself at Sasuke. Her green eyes widened in horror, and her body moved automatically.

She didn't think, she didn't speak, she just reacted.

Sakura thrust her body between the assailant and her partner, and choked as she felt the snaps of her ribcage and the twang of her right lung being punctured. This wasn't her first time being impaled (how many people could say that?), but this was the most unpleasant one she'd endured so far. Swords and poles were more precise, better at locating kill spots, but whole arms were perfect for demolishing the most organs possible.

Her assailant smiled grimly, reeking of sweat and desperation, and braced his other arm on her shoulder as if to pull out and attack Sasuke—as if he thought she was done for. Sweetly, Sakura returned the smile as the grabbed his neck and snapped the vertebrae. He dropped dead, bringing her down with his weight anchored in her chest.

The ride to the ground was not pleasant, and Sakura dully noted that another rib had snapped during the trip. Wincing, she slowly began to maneuver her way off the arm that had skewered her. She had barely begun to move when strong hands gripped either side of her shoulders swept her off the ground and into a firm chest.

"What the fuck where you thinking, Sakura?" Sasuke scolded, setting her down gently, and leaning her upright against a tree, "I could have handled it!"

Sakura smiled apologetically, fighting not to flinch, and weakly maneuvered herself so she had better access to her injury, "Just reacted."

"Well, stop and think first," he snapped, sharingan turning his eyes red. He positioned himself so he was kneeling over her protectively, hand on Kusangi, and staring aggressively into the empty space around them, "Hurry up and heal yourself, there could be more on the way."

"Yes, Sasuke-kun," she opted not to waste any energy arguing with him and focused all of her energy on putting herself back together.

Threads of her shirt lay embedded in her wound, and Sakura pulled a kunai out of her pouch and sliced away her black undershirt, thankful she wasn't also wearing her wire-mesh guard. She threw the bloodied material to the side. Sasuke's jaw tightened at the sight of it, and he purposely looked away.

Sakura's brows furrowed as her glowing green hands knitted her torn flesh together again. Her breaths came in shallow, steady breaths—she was determined not to let much pain show—and she worked dutifully to reunite each cell of her skin together. Not many took the time to appreciate what was happening as Sakura mended their hurts and pains, but there was a reason it took perfect chakra control. Each and every cell membrane had to be reunited, and it wasn't like she could just slap some chakra "glue" between them. The tight, adherens, and gap junctions all had to be reformed as well the desmosomes.

If she had the time or chakra, she could erase all signs that the wound was even there. Her younger, vain self would have wasted endless time and energy on this task, but Sakura had grown up. She was a full-grown kunoichi: scars came with the territory.

With all of her organs pieced together—her liver had taken a pretty bad hit—she could focus on mending her shattered ribs. Just as she was piecing together her last rip, her chakra ran out with a "pop" that reverberated through her being, and she grasped the tree behind her for support.

"What happened," Sasuke's voice was demanding, tinged with worry. His eyes flicked over her shaking form, and his grip visibly tightened on blade. Then his posture stiffened, and his eyes snapped to the still horizon, "Three chakra signatures, moving fast."

Gritting her teeth to lock the pained whimper in her throat, Sakura stood up. Her hand reflexively went to heal her broken ribs, but sunk uselessly back to her side. Although all the pieces of her ribs were reunited and not in danger of puncturing anything, they were still very tender. Despite her lack of vocalization of her pain, or perhaps because of it, Sasuke was tense with worry.

"Let's move. I'm out of chakra, though, so we have to stick to the ground."

"Your ribs are still broken."

"Yes, well, I'm out of the time and energy to heal them so let's _go_," she ushered, breaking into a sprint, her voice less than friendly. _If he so as much _hints_ that I'm useless…_

Of course, despite her determination to be strong, running with broken ribs was no small feat. Every breath stung like swallowing acid and the jolt of her legs thundering into the ground sent shockwaves of pain with every step. Still, she kept to Sasuke's speed, not daring to slow down despite the fact that she was out of chakra.

If the situation got any worse, she could release her Strength of a Hundred Seal, but the release included a very obvious burst of chakra that could draw more potential enemies their way.

They had barely gone a quarter mile when she was swept off her feet. The ground vanished beneath her and disappeared twenty feet below her as she was suddenly lifted into the tree branches, pressed against the hard planes of Sasuke's chest.

"Annoying," Sasuke spat, cradling her bridal style in his arms. He didn't take the time to look at her, but instead poured on speed, causing leaves to fly by her face in a very disorienting manner.

"Sasuke-kun, I can run," she struggled slightly in his grasp, only to have it tighten minuscully around her—a warning.

"Don't bother, they'll catch up to us at your pace," he answered, swiftly navigating the airspace between tree trunks.

Sakura knew he was right, but her uselessness in this position rested uneasily with her. How had this mission gone so terribly wrong? One moment opponents crunched under her fists, earning impressed smirks, but the next she was being protected again. Again! When would she stop being a burden?

"Stop worrying," Sasuke's voice broke into her poisonous thoughts. Sakura glanced up to find him watching her, before he returned his stony gaze ahead, "I can't do this if I'm not carrying you, anway."

"Do wha—," the breath was forcefully sucked from her lungs, and Sakura saw white. When her vision cleared, they were in a different part of the forest, much less dense than before. She peeked at her surroundings from the safety of Sasuke's arms, "Did you just tele—ow!"

They were off again, speeding through space at speeds that erased all of Sakura's vision. It was comforting to know that the pain wasn't making her see white—how pathetic would that be?—but the speed at which they were traveling.

Air rushed into her lungs once again as they arrived at their next destination, causing her ribcage to burn as if it was on fire. She would not whimper, she would _not_ whimper. This was the best way to get away, she would _not_ whimper.

"I can only bring people with me if I'm carrying them with me, touching doesn't work," he answered, running once more.

_Words, focus on the words, use to words to drown out the pain_, she purposefully unclenched her teeth and looked up on Sasuke, _focus on something else._

"How far can you move at a time?" her gaze locked on his square jaw, memorizing the way each tendon stretched under the surface, observing the way tiny black hairs that showed he had matured into adulthood.

"Half mile," although the rate at which they were bounding through branches bordered on life-threatening, Sasuke carefully cushioned every movement for the injured woman in his arms.

"Hmmm," Sakura acknowledged, now looking at the light sheet of sweat across his broad shoulders, "Was it always like that, or have you been training it?"

"Training," he answered shortly. A bit of chakra flared on the very edge of her senses, and Sakura felt Sasuke's body tense, "Hold on"—he looked down at her—"I'm going to do a set of six."

Sakura nodded grimly, touched that he would think to warn her, before she was blind once again. Air was welcomed when it was available, but it was hard to come by at these alarming speeds. The pressure upon her from—what was it? Physics had never been her area of expertise, and it was hard to think when she was weary from pain and chakra depletion. Her thoughts jumped from one area to another, not resting on any particular thought before it slipped out of grasp.

"There," the word itself didn't signify any specific object, but Sasuke used it to let her know that this particular round of torture was over. A tight smile found its way to her lips; it was almost as if Sasuke was trying to comfort her.

With a deep breath worth the pain, Sakura gingerly let go of Sasuke's bicep which she seemed to have latched on them at some point during their last sprint. She chanced an embarrassed look at her escort, mortified that she had gripped him so tightly, but he simply shrugged. Apparently, damsels in pain was all part of a day's work for Sasuke.

A small, round leafed herb caught her attention from the corner of her eye, "We've passed into our borders, then."

"Aa, not far now."

The last part of his response was superfluous, and an obvious attempt at comforting her. He must really think she was in an absurd amount of pain.

"You know, Sasuke-kun, I could probably handle running now that we've put some distance between us and the enemy," when Sasuke showed no signs of relenting, she continued on, "I'm not in that much pain, you know. I can handle it. It's only a couple of cracked ribs."

"Only a couple of cracked ribs," he repeated incredulously, voice contemptuous.

"Well, I have had worse," she reminded him.

This seemed to be an unwelcome reminder, as Sasuke very-nearly snarled, arms tightening around her and the muscle in his jaw twitching. Sakura stilled, watching him apprehensively. Apparently, her injuries were a taboo subject, but she was at a loss to why.

"I'm aware," he finally responded, still not moving to set her down, "But with my luck, you'd probably trip and sprain your ankle or some shit."

To anyone else, it might have seemed like an insult, but the surge of warmth that surged through her body showed otherwise. _He didn't want to set her down,_ she thought victoriously, _he knew she was capable of it, but he was making up excuses so he didn't have to._

Little by little, Sakura was working her way through Sasuke's iron-clad defenses.

Mercifully, they were far enough ahead of any remaining pursuers that no more vision-stealing-air-squashing-transportation trips were needed. She didn't press him into anymore conversation, and he didn't ask offer anything more.

Soon, Konoha's tall walls were in view, although with his sharingan still activated, Sasuke was sure to have seen it minutes ago. Guards spanned the entrance to the gate, but they all shifted slightly to the side when they spotted the speeding couple.

"What the hell happened to Sakura-chan?" Naruto squawked immediately upon their arrival. It seemed he had been sitting on a bench just inside the walls, sharing a bento box with Hinata as they rushed inside.

Instead of dropping her to her feet as she expected, Sasuke gently released her legs first and kept his arm supportively around her back as she became used to standing again. Once it was obvious that she wasn't about to collapse to her knees, he lowered his other arms and stepped a short distance apart.

With her new scar exposed, Sakura felt slightly self-conscious and wrapped her arms lightly around her middle.

"Oh, I ran out of chakra so Sasuke had to carry me to be able to teleport us away from the left over rouge nins," she responded lightly.

"She's neglecting the part where she took a blow for me and ended up getting herself impaled again," Sasuke interjected, "Her ribs are still broken."

His expression was bland, and Sakura couldn't decide if he had meant to insult her by pointing out that she had gotten hurt again, or praise her for taking a hit for him. The second seemed too out of character for him, so she grudgingly admitted it was probably the former.

"Oh no! Here, Sakura-chan, let me help!" Hinata exclaimed, hurrying over.

Hinata wasn't technically a medic, but she had studied enough medical ninjutsu to be useful on the field. Thanks to her innate knowledge of chakra pathways, she had superb control over her chakra and was able to pick up on the techniques Sakura and Ino taught her quickly.

Sakura removed her hands from her bare stomach and allowed her friend to cover them with her icy blue chakra. The numbness that followed was a welcome relief, and she sighed deeply when Hinata withdrew her hand a few seconds later.

"Thanks, Hinata," Sakura hugged her lightly, "I ran out of chakra before I could finish the job."

Turning back to the group, Sakura was witness to an odd sight. Naruto stood quietly, legs shoulder width apart, arms crossed, and eyebrows furrowed in thought. His blue eyes were steady on Sasuke, obviously searching for some answer. Sasuke, who noticed Naruto's unwavering attention, met his gaze with a single challenging cocked eyebrow.

"Got something to say, Dobe?"

Naruto's lip pursed, then opened with an accusation, "Yeah, but you didn't have to _carry_ Sakura-chan to teleport. We figured out that you can transport anything you hold onto with one hand, remember?"

Green eyes widening, Sakura spun to face Sasuke. _But he had said…_

Sasuke's face flushed, and he thrust his hands sharply into his pocket before striding away, "It was more convenient this way."

"Oh my," Hinata remarked quietly, exchanging a quiet look with her friend.

If Sasuke hadn't needed to carry her, it meant he did it because he wanted to. Sasuke had wanted to carry her.

A broad, foxy grin broke out across Naruto's face, and he cackled before calling after his teammate's retreating back, "Teme and Sakura-chan, sitting in a tree. K-I-S-S-I-N-Ow!"

"Shut up, Naruto," she scolded, grabbing his ear, "I probably would have collapsed between every trip if he hadn't been carrying me. It made more sense, that's all."

Despite her words, Sakura couldn't help but replay Sasuke's blush, or the way he had refused to set her down when they were running. Sure, it had been more convienient, but maybe it had been an excuse, too. Maybe, just maybe, Sasuke had been looking for an excuse to hold her.

Maybe, he had dropped those protective walls around him, and was looking for ways to let her in.

* * *

**This is one of my favorite prompts.**


End file.
